The number of job openings fell to a 3½-year low in July, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, in a further sign of slack in the labor market.
The department’s closely watched Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed the number of available positions fell to 7.67 million in the month, down 237,000 from the downwardly revised number in June and the lowest level since January 2021.
Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected 8.1 million.
The decline pushed the ratio of open positions per available worker down to less than 1.1, about half the peak of more than 2 to 1 in early 2022.
The data likely provides additional ammunition to Federal Reserve officials, who are widely expected to cut interest rates when they meet for their next policy meeting on Sept. 17-18. Fed officials are closely watching the JOLTS report as an indicator of labor market strength.
“The labor market is no longer cooling to pre-pandemic temperatures, it has dropped beyond them,” said Nick Bunker, head of economic research at Indeed Hiring Lab. “No one, least of all policymakers at the Federal Reserve, would want the labor market to get any cooler right now.”
While the number of job openings fell, the number of layoffs rose to 1.76 million, 202,000 more than in June. Total layoffs rose by 336,000, raising the layoff rate as a percentage of the labor force to 3.4%. However, hiring also rose, by 273,000 on a monthly basis, bringing the rate to 3.5%, or 0.2 percentage points better than in June.
The report comes two days before the crucial August count of nonfarm payrolls, which the Labor Department is scheduled to release Friday. The report is expected to show an increase of 161,000 and a drop in the unemployment rate to 4.2%.
