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A “Now Hiring” sign at a Lowe's store in Glenmont, New York, on Tuesday, November 14th.
Washington, D.C
CNN
—
The number of job openings in the U.S. fell to its lowest level since March 2021 in November, a sign that the robust American labor market is continuing to cool.
As the Labor Department announced on Wednesday, there were a seasonally adjusted 8.79 million job vacancies in November. That's down from October's upwardly revised 8.85 million and roughly in line with economists' expectations of 8.77 million openings, according to FactSet.
While job vacancies are down from a record 12 million in March 2022, they are still above pre-pandemic levels, according to the latest Job Vacancies and Labor Turnover Survey, also known as the JOLTS report.
Wednesday's numbers show the job market continuing its steady slowdown and economic activity slowing as interest rates remain at a 22-year high. Federal Reserve officials said the economy may need to slow even further to ensure inflation remains on track toward the central bank's 2 percent target.
Infrastructure and federal job openings fell sharply in November, by 128,000 and 58,000, respectively. The number of job openings in the leisure and hospitality industry also fell in November, falling by 97,000. Meanwhile, wholesale openings increased by 63,000 this month.
In another sign of a slowing labor market, the report also showed that hiring fell by 363,000 to 5.47 million in November. That's the lowest level since April 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic first upended the US economy. But even ignoring the initial disruption caused by the pandemic, hiring hasn't been at this level since 2017.
Both layoffs and the number of terminations fell in November. The former remains well below pre-pandemic levels.
The latest JOLTS report doesn't raise alarm bells that the job market is faltering, but instead raises the possibility of a soft landing – where the economy cools without increasing unemployment.
“Today’s JOLTS data is another signal that the Fed is conducting a soft landing,” Ron Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard, wrote in a note published Wednesday. “Today's report is good news for American workers and the economy, but it also suggests to me that the Fed is unlikely to cut interest rates in 2024 as aggressively as markets currently suggest, given the threat of one There is a risk of a renewed flare-up in inflationary pressures.”
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