Job Openings Decline Points to Slowing but Steady Labor Market

The number of job openings decreased by 556,000 in December and stood at 7.6 million on the last business day of the month.

The number was down from 8.2 million at the end of November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said in a Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary released Tuesday (Feb. 4).

The decline in the number of job openings was the biggest since October 2023, but the figures for hiring and layoffs suggest that there’s not a sharp slowdown in the labor market, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Bloomberg reported that the number of job openings was fewer than expected by economists and that this indicates that the job market is slowing but remains healthy.

The greatest decreases in job openings in December were in professional and business services, health care and social assistance, and finance and insurance, according to the BLS press release. Those figures were down by 225,000; 180,000; and 136,000, respectively.

At the same time, there was an increase of 65,000 job openings in arts, entertainment and recreation, the release said.

The BLS said there was little change in hires and total separations in December.

The number of hires was gauged at 5.5 million, which was little changed from November. The BLS highlighted an increase of 48,000 hires in finance and insurance.

The number of total separations was 5.3 million in December, which was little changed from the previous month. Among the different sorts of separations, the number of quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations were little changed at 3.2 million, 1.8 million and 302,000, respectively.

It was reported Thursday (Jan. 30) that initial claims for unemployment fell more than expected during the week ended Jan. 25, while the insured unemployment number dropped by 42,000 after hitting a three-year high a week earlier.

The Department of Labor said the number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment dropped by 16,000 during the week, from 223,000 to 207,000, while the number for insured unemployment dropped by 42,000, from 1,900,000 to 1,858,000.

Reuters reported at the time that the drop in initial claims suggested fewer layoffs and a labor market that continues to “plod along.”