Companies hired fewer people in August and job openings were largely flat, adding to evidence that the labor market is treading water.

Some 5.1 million people were hired last month, according to an update to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is a decline from 5.24 million in July and 5.47 million in May.

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Also, job openings were flat. Openings rose to 7.23 million in August, barely up from 7.21 million in July.

INFLATION THREATENS TO SWAMP TRUMP POLITICALLY

The “quits rate” 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.

The quits rate fell to 1.9% from 2%, where it had been for several months prior to August.

“August’s layoff rate of 1.1%, a hires rate of 3.2%, and 7.2 million job openings continued the low-firing, low-hiring trend that defines today’s economy,” said Allison Shrivastava, an economist at Indeed. “But frozen isn’t the same as stable. A stagnant labor market may look calm on the surface, but beneath that stillness is a lack of dynamism.”

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also recently said that the economy has entered into a “low-fire, low-hire” state, meaning that it can avoid a recession even as job growth slows.

The monthly jobs report, which shows net hiring rather than the gross hiring recorded in the JOLTS release, showed that the economy added just 22,000 jobs in August, marking a clear slowdown. Plus, there is uncertainty about the jobs report that is set to be released on Friday because of the possibility of a government shutdown, which would mean that the data wouldn’t be published.

In addition, consumer sentiment has soured amid inflation, which is still running too hot.

SHUTDOWN WOULD HAVE FALLOUT FOR GOVERNMENT WORKERS, THE FED, AND MARKETS

Consumer sentiment fell to 55.1, down from 58.2 in August and below economists’ expectations, according to the latest reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for September. Consumer sentiment is now down 21.6% from a year ago. September marked the lowest such reading since May.

Consumer confidence, as gauged by the Conference Board, also slipped in September, falling below forecast expectations.