US job openings fall to 3.5-year low in July on labour market slowdown
A 50-basis-point rate reduction was also put in doubt by strong consumer spending in July. | Photo: pexels
US job openings dropped to a 3-1/2-year low in July, suggesting the labor market was losing steam, but probably not enough for the Federal Reserve to consider a big interest rate cut this month.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, had fallen by 237,000 to 7.673 million on the last day of July, the lowest level since January 2021, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Wednesday. Data for June was revised lower to show 7.910 million unfilled positions instead of the previously reported 8.184 million.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 8.100 million job openings. Hires increased by 273,000 to 5.521 million. Layoffs rose 202,000 to a still-low 1.762 million.
The data suggested that the labor market is not cratering, but slowing in an orderly manner, which would reduce the need for the Fed to deliver a half-percentage-point interest rate cut at the US central bank’s Sept. 17-18 policy meeting.
A 50-basis-point rate reduction was also put in doubt by strong consumer spending in July. A rise in the unemployment rate to near a three-year high of 4.3 per cent in July rattled financial markets and ignited fears of a recession.
That was compounded by the government estimating last month that employment gains were overstated by 68,000 jobs per month in the 12 months through March.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First Published: Sep 04 2024 | 8:18 PM IST
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