US job openings dropped to the lowest level in more than two years in July and fewer Americans quit their positions, fuelling expectations that the labour market is cooling off enough to allow the Federal Reserve to forgo further interest rate increases this year.
There were 8.8mn job vacancies in July, down from 9.2mn in June, according to the labour department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released on Tuesday. Economists, who consider job openings to be a proxy for labour demand, expected 9.5mn openings, per Refinitiv. It marked the lowest level since March 2021.
Job openings, while still higher than pre-pandemic levels, have trended lower in recent months as the labour market has slowed. The number of workers who voluntarily quit their job also declined, indicating that workers see fewer opportunities in the jobs market. Lay-offs held steady at 1.6mn, and new hires fell to 5.8mn from 5.9mn.