The number of job openings in the United States rose above 10 million in April, defying expectations for a contraction caused by the Federal Reserve's efforts to raise interest rates.
There were 10.1 million job openings across all sectors that month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey updated Wednesday. The rise is a sign that the labor market, which has held up despite a series of major threats over the past two years, is remaining robust despite the Fed’s rate hikes and the turmoil in the banking system following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
DEBT LIMIT DEAL: WHERE IT STANDS AND WHAT IS STILL TO COME
The largest increases in job openings were in retail trade, healthcare, transportation, warehousing, and utilities. The total number of job openings is the highest it has been since January after a few months of declines.
“After falling throughout Q1, job openings surprised to the upside in April, signaling that the tightness in the labor market is unlikely to fall off a cliff but rather continue downward on a bumpy path,” Oxford Economics wrote in a note on the report.
About 3.8 million workers quit their jobs in April, down slightly from 3.9 million 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 Wednesday’s JOLTs report, layoffs and discharges declined to 1.6 million in April. The layoff rate has now decreased to 1%.
The central bank has been hiking rates since last March in an effort to drive down inflation. Doing so is supposed to cause the jobs market to cool, relieving inflationary pressure. The tight labor market is likely something Fed officials did not anticipate, and while the longer-term trend has shown some softening, the market is still quite hot.
The economy exceeded expectations in April and added 253,000 jobs. The headline job growth number in the report was higher than predicted, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, tied for the lowest such rate since 1969.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Still, many economists do predict the economy will fall into a recession at some point this year. Fed staff themselves have even predicted a mild recession in the coming 12 months.
But the strong jobs numbers bolster the arguments of some that the Fed might be able to pull off a “soft landing,” a scenario in which inflation declines to healthy levels while the labor market doesn’t come crashing down in exchange.