United States job openings reached their lowest level in 10 months in July, indicating a softening labour market.
Non-farm job openings were 7.181 million in July, dropping from the 7.357 million seen in June. The number of openings fell below the number of unemployed workers for the first time in over four years.
“The number and rate of job openings were little changed at 7.2 million and 4.3 percent, respectively, in July. The number of job openings decreased in health care and social assistance (-181,000); arts, entertainment, and recreation (-62,000); and mining and logging (-13,000),” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS).
Openings in July were the lowest since the 7.103 million reported in September 2024, and missed FactSet estimates of 7.37 million. The U.S. unemployment rate was 7.236 million in July after a 221,000 monthly increase, marking the first time job openings have been below unemployment since 2021.
The number of hires in July was 5.308 million, climbing slightly from June’s 5.267 million. The rate of hires was unchanged at 3.3%.
Separations were at 5.289 million, down from 5.341 million in June. Both the number of quits and the number of layoffs were unchanged from June, remaining at 3.2 million and 1.8 million respectively.
“Fewer job openings means slower wage growth for job switchers, limited opportunities, and potentially slower innovation,” wrote Indeed Hiring Lab economist Allison Shrivastava. "For the first time in years, wage growth for job stayers is higher than it is for job switchers, in part because employers don’t need to compete as hard to fill open positions.”
June’s job openings were revised down by 80,000, while the number of hires was revised up by 63,000 to 5.3 million.
The U.S. also added just 73,000 jobs in July, with May and June’s numbers revised downwards by more than 140,000 jobs each.
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller told CNBC today that he will support a rate cut at the next Fed meeting this month, after having recommended a cut in July. “You want to get ahead of having the labour market go down because usually when the labour market turns bad, it turns bad fast,” he said.
The U.S. dollar index declined by 0.35% after the JOLTS report.
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