The number of vacant jobs in the U.S. fell to just over eight million in April, indicating that employer demand for labor has slackened and reviving hopes for interest rate cuts this year.
Employers were looking to fill 8.059 million openings on the last business day in April, the Department of Labor said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report.
This was far fewer than economists expected. The median forecast was for 8.4 million, according to Econoday. The figure was below even the most pessimistic forecast.
The prior month’s estimate was revised down to 8.355 million from 8.488 million. Over the past year, the number of job openings has declined by 1.8 million.
The ratio of vacancies to unemployed persons is seen as an important gauge of tightness in the labor market. After being elevated for years following the re-opening of the economy, it has been declining in recent months. In April, it returned to the pre-pandemic level (which was high by historical standards).
The decline in openings suggests that employers are pulling back on hiring. A softer labor market could be seen by Federal Reserve officials as lowering inflationary pressures and could prompt interest rates cuts this year.
Openings fell across the economy. Construction, manufacturing, and information technology wassaw declines. The biggest decline in private sector openings came in health care. Leisure and hospitality also registered a significant decline, concentrated in hotels, restaurants, and bars.
There was also a significant decline in government openings. These were concentrated in state and local government education positions.
Retail trade added job openings, as did financial services. Openings in professional and business services soared by 122,000.
The number of workers voluntarily quitting their jobs was little changed at 3.5 million, and the quits rate was 2.2 percent for the sixth month in a row. A rising quits rate is seen as a sign of high demand for labor because workers are more likely to voluntarily leave their job if they expect to easily find a better one or already have an offer lined up.
The current quits rate is high by longer historical standards but matches the rate that prevailed in the two years before the pandemic.
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