The number of available jobs in the U.S. plummeted in August compared with July as businesses grow less desperate for workers, a trend that could cool chronically high inflation.
That is good news for the Federal Reserve in its efforts to bring down high prices without plunging the economy into a recession. The government jobs report released Tuesday also showed that layoffs remained historically low, even after a modest increase in August. And overall hiring was essentially unchanged that month.
Altogether, the data suggested that even as companies take down job postings, they aren’t cutting workers or slamming the brakes on adding jobs.
“Employers are thinking about who they don’t need to hire, but not thinking about who they need to lay off,” said Layla O’Kane, a senior economist at labor analytics firms Lightcast.
There were 10.1 million advertised jobs on the last day of August, the government said Tuesday, down a huge 10% from 11.2 million openings in July. In March, job openings hit a record of nearly 11.9 million.
The report pushed major U.S. markets higher because it is a potential sign that the Fed could slow its rapid pace of rate hikes, though most economists said that it would take more than one report to change the Fed’s trajectory. The U.S. releases critical data on monthly employment on Friday.
Read more here https://apnews.com/article/inflation-business-ddb0f7c3437661b74b62e03cb267aab9 by CHRISTOPHER RUGABER