United States job openings reached almost 7 million for January 2026, marking a sluggish rise from the month prior.
The 6.9 million job postings were higher than analysts' expectations but were only a small jump from December’s 6.6 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Hires remained unchanged at 5.3 million.
The number of layoffs fell slightly, and the number of Americans quitting their jobs dipped slightly.
Layoffs totalled 1.6 million in January, down from 1.7 million last month, and the number of people quitting their jobs totalled 3.1 million, down from December's 3.2 million.
This follows employers cutting 92,000 jobs last month. They also added fewer than 10,000 jobs a month in 2025, marking the weakest hiring outside recession years since 2002.
This appears to be impacted by President Donald Trump’s policies, the lingering effects of high interest rates, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence, which appear to be weighing on the labour market.
Despite this, the American economy has remained resilient in the face of Trump’s import taxes and deportations.
However, the Commerce Department reported that economic growth has slowed sharply in the past three months of 2025 to 0.7%, half its initial estimate of fourth-quarter growth and down from a strong 4.4% advance in the third quarter.
This comes as American consumer sentiment has also dipped to its lowest level this year.
The Consumer Sentiment Index fell 1.9% month over month and 2.6% year-over-year in March, according to the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers.
Survey of Consumers director Joanne Hsu said the war in Iran has had a heavy impact on consumer sentiment this month.
“Interviews completed prior to the military action in Iran showed an improvement in sentiment from last month, but lower readings seen during the nine days thereafter completely erased those initial gains,” Hsu said.
“Gasoline prices have exerted the most immediate impact felt by consumers, though the magnitude of passthrough to other prices remains highly uncertain.”
