The number of job openings in the United States rose to 9.61 million in August, reversing the trend after three straight months of declines.
The new figures, 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. The increase was anticipated after July’s JOLTS report showed the lowest level of job openings since March 2021.
DEMOCRACY DERBY: HOW THE KENTUCKY GOVERNOR'S RACE COULD SERVE AS A SPRINGBOARD INTO 2028
The increase signals that the Federal Reserve’s barrage of interest rate hikes is still not quite causing the country’s robust labor market to falter the way many expected. The rising number of job openings could give the Fed a little more leeway to keep rates high for longer.
“Any wonder why the Fed expects to raise interest rates again? With 1.5 job openings for every unemployed worker, there is little evidence of substantial easing in labor market demand, a risk to getting inflation lower," said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.
The largest decreases/increases in job openings were in professional and business services, finance and insurance, state and local government education, and nondurable goods manufacturing.
About 3.6 million workers quit their jobs in August. The figure is equivalent to about 2.3% of the workforce.
The "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 1.7 million in August.
Despite recent declines in the number of job openings, openings are historically high and above where they were before the pandemic, when the unemployment rate was at 3.5%. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.8% in August but has largely hovered around that ultralow 3.5% for most of the past year.
The numbers come ahead of the much-anticipated September employment report, which is set to be released on Friday. The economy beat expectations in August and notched 187,000 additional jobs.
Still, in a sign that the labor market is softening, June’s employment gains were revised down by 80,000 to just 105,000, and July’s were revised down by 30,000 to 157,000. Monthly job growth is about half of what it was at the start of the year, suggesting the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic is winding down.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
There is also the question of whether the Fed will hike rates again before the end of the year. Investors are pretty evenly split on whether rates will move higher, although recent inflation reports would indicate that there is still a bit of a fight left in the central bank’s mission to tame inflation.
The bond market has been reacting to the uncertainty. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields briefly went over 4.7% on Monday, surpassing the 15-year high they notched last week. Meanwhile, the benchmark two-year Treasury yield was at 5.102%.