| The cooling economy should be causing job openings to drop, but that is not happening. The labor market remains tight.
- Job openings were 10.1 million at the end of April. That is up 358,000 from March.
Why it matters: There are 4.45 million more job openings than unemployed workers. This is up more than 500,000 from March.
Be smart: Hiring and quits remained at roughly the same level as in March. Businesses are still adding workers, and workers are still confident they can quit their jobs and find better ones easily.
By the numbers:
- Openings increased in retail trade (209,000); health care and social assistance (185,000); and transportation, warehousing, and utilities (154,000).
- They decreased in leisure and hospitality (86,000); government (71,000); and manufacturing (26,000).
Bottom line: Rising interest rates are supposed to bring inflation down, in part, by cooling off the hot labor market. This data will complicate the Fed’s job and increase the chances of another rate hike in the coming months. |
