Job openings declined slightly in June from the month prior amid signs of cooling in the labor market.
New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday showed that 8.18 million jobs were open at the end of June, a decrease from the 8.23 million job openings in May. May’s figure was revised higher from the 8.14 million open jobs initially reported. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the report to show 8 million openings in June.
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) also showed 5.3 million hires were made during the month, a slight decrease from May’s revised figure of 5.7 million. The hiring rate declined to 3.4% from 3.6% in May.
Also, in Tuesday’s report, the quits rate, a sign of confidence among workers, sat at 2.1% for the second straight month. In June, there were 3.28 million quits, down from 3.4 million in May and the lowest number of quits in a month since November 2020.
The data come as the labor market has moved into closer focus over the past several weeks. Rising weekly jobless claims and a steady uptick in the unemployment rate have economists wary that cracks may be forming underneath what’s otherwise been viewed as a strong labor market. After the release of Tuesday’s data, former US Secretary of Labor Seth Harris told Yahoo Finance the recent decline in quits indicates that workers are “feeling a little bit less secure that if they leave their jobs, they’ll be able to find another job.”
This is one of the early signs of “turbulence” in the labor market data, per Harris, and one of the reasons he believes the Federal Reserve should be cutting interest rates when it announces its next policy decision on Wednesday.
Harris isn’t alone in that opinion, as several economists have noted in recent months the central bank should begin cutting interest rates before signs of cooling in the labor market intensify.
But that’s not expected to be the outcome of the central bank’s meeting, which began on Tuesday. Markets are currently placing just a 4% chance the Fed cuts rates on Wednesday, with many believing Fed Chair Jerome Powell will use his press conference to set up an interest rate cut in September.
The JOLTS report is the first in a string of key labor market data out this week. On Friday, the July jobs report is expected to show 175,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added to the US economy, with unemployment holding steady at 4.1%, according to data from Bloomberg.
Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschafer.
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