US job openings hit two-year lows in June, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st August, 2023) US job openings hit two-year lows in June, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report on Tuesday.
Job openings grew by 9.582 million on the last day of June, down 34,000 from the previous month - the lowest level since April 2021, the report said.
Even so, there were fewer layoffs in June, with 1.53 million reported versus May's 1.55 million, the report said.
Economists are watching the data closely to guess the path the Federal Reserve would likely take regarding monetary policy after carrying out interest rate hikes over the past 18 months to rein in runaway inflation. To keep inflation down, the Fed needs to keep a lid on US jobs and wages growth.
"We still have a long way to go, and we still have a very high number of openings, especially as compared to where we were pre-pandemic," Rachel Sederberg, senior economist at the labor analytics firm Lightcast, said in comments carried by CNBC. "But we're heading in the right direction and we're doing so in a calm manner, which is what we want to see."
The JOLTS report came ahead of Friday's important non-farm payrolls report for July.
Economists are forecasting a growth of 200,000 non-farm payrolls on the average for last month versus June's 209,000. The June figure was particularly an important one for the Fed as it came below economists' estimates for the first time in 16 months, signaling progress in the Fed's inflation-fighting efforts.
Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, hit a four-decade high of 9.1% per year in June 2022 in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and the trillions of dollars of relief spending for that.
The Federal Reserve responded by adding 525 basis points to rates from a previous 25.
Inflation subsequently eased, falling to as low as 3% in the Consumer Price Index reading for July. But that is still well above the Fed's long-term target of 2%, with officials at the central bank saying they feared renewed spikes if consumers start spending big again.
