Job openings rose in October to the highest level since May, a sign that the labor market is holding up despite some recent signs of slowing.
The data were released Tuesday morning after being delayed by the government shutdown, the longest on record, which resulted in crucial inflation and jobs reports being postponed or canceled.
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October job openings rose to 7.67 million, an increase of about 55,000 from a year ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in an update to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
Job openings have, on balance, been trending lower over the past couple of years after a huge surge in openings following the pandemic. Some of the slowing in the labor market is likely attributable to the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates in an effort to stave off inflation, although now the central bank has pivoted to cutting interest rates amid indications of a slowing labor market.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and other economists have described the labor market as being in a “low-fire, low-hire” state, in which there have not been mass layoffs, but some people out of work are struggling to get hired.
Hiring has also slowed. The hire rate is low at 3.2%.
About 2.9 million workers quit their jobs in October, little changed from the month before. The figure is equivalent to about 1.8% of the workforce.
A higher “quits rate” is generally seen as positive. It measures the share of people who voluntarily left their jobs and includes those who left their previous employment for another job and people who quit but are confident they will soon find new employment.
Also of note in Tuesday’s JOLTS report, layoffs and discharges were little changed, at 1.9 million in October.
The data will be valuable to the Fed as it makes its next move on interest rates this month. The Fed has a dual mandate — balancing full employment and price stability. If the labor market weakens, it could prompt more pressure for lower rates.
The federal government recently released its latest employment numbers for September, which were greatly delayed because of the government shutdown.
The economy added 119,000 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate ticked up one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.4%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday.
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That headline number was better than expected, but there were also downward revisions to past months, which showed the labor market has been in worse shape than was previously reported.
Consumer sentiment has also soured to the lowest level on record, save for one month during the worst of the inflation wave, according to the November reading of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.
