Following a surge of job openings in September, the number of job openings in October increased by 12,000 to 7.670 million, Reuters reported, citing the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS report) from the Labor Department.
The job vacancies rate was unchanged at 4.6%. Hiring dropped by 218,000 positions to 5.149 million in October, with the rate of hires dropping from 3.4% in September to 3.2% in October, according to Reuters.
The layoffs rate rose to 1.2% from 1.1% in September, increasing to 73,000 to a total of 1.854 million.
“Job openings have come down steadily since peaking at a record 12.1 million in March 2022, when the economy was roaring back from COVID-19 lockdowns. The job market has cooled partly because of the lingering effect of the high interest rates the Fed engineered in 2022 and 2023 to combat an outburst of inflation,” the Associated Press reported.
“The quits rate, viewed by policymakers as a gauge of labor market confidence, slipped to 1.8%. That was the lowest reading since May 2020, and was down from 2.0% in September,” Reuters reported, noting that the labor market remains stagnant.
Further information on October jobs data, including the number of positions that employers created that month, will be released alongside the full November jobs report, AP wrote. The November report has been delayed by the government shutdown and will be released December 16.
Recent reports revealed that the number of U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in three years during Thanksgiving week with 191,000 applications, down from the previous week’s 218,000.