The number of job openings in the United States decreased to 9.6 million in June, showing signs of contraction as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates.
The new numbers, which look at openings across all sectors for that month, were released as part of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, which was updated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday. While still relatively strong, the decrease is notable and marks the lowest level of job openings since April 2021.
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The decline was also notable because it was more pronounced than most economists had expected.
The falling number of openings is a sign that the labor market, which has held up despite a series of major threats over the past two years, might be starting to take a hit from the Fed’s rate hikes.
Tuesday’s report “is another data point indicating an ongoing but gradual cooling of macro conditions due to elevated interest rates,” National Association of Home Builders chief economist Robert Dietz wrote in a commentary.
The largest decreases in job openings were in transportation, warehousing, and utilities, state and local government education, and the federal government.
About 3.8 million workers quit their jobs in June, down by nearly 300,000 from the month before. The figure is equivalent to about 2.4% of the workforce.
The so-called quits rate measures the number 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, given the tightness in the labor market.
Also of note in Tuesday’s JOLTS report, layoffs and discharges were little changed at 1.5 million in June.
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After more than a year of successive rate hikes, some by very aggressive margins, the Fed opted to raise rates again last month to 5.25% to 5.50%, although many expect that will be the last rate revision in the Fed’s tightening cycle.
The economy crushed expectations in June and added another 339,000 jobs while the unemployment rate crept up slightly to a still-low 3.7%. The latest jobs data for July is out Friday and will be closely watched by economists.
