In the United States job openings have jumped to a three-year low in March, accompanied by a decline in the number of people leaving their jobs, leading a gradual easing in labour demand.
The latest report from the Labour Department’s Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey (JOLTS) disclosed this decline, showing implications for the Federal Reserve’s inflation management strategy.
While these findings provide some information about the labour landscape, concerns about inflation persist, specifically in light of surging input costs for manufacturers.
The recent increase in raw material prices, reaching the highest level in nearly two years in April, raises apprehensions about sustained upward pressure on prices. The Federal Reserve maintained its benchmark interest rate, signalling an approach amidst mixed economic indicators.
‘These market trends are important in the context of the Federal Reserve’s inflation objectives’, said Mark Streiber, an economic analyst at FHN Financial
‘Continued cooling in the labour market is part of the Fed’s plan to help return inflation to 2 % with job openings serving as one of the Fed’s barometers’, he said.
The JOLTS report disclosed a decrease in job openings, with figures dropping by 325,000 to 8.488 million in March, the lowest level since February 2021. This decline follows a peak of 12.182 million job openings recorded in March 2022, indicating a notable contraction in labour demand over the past year.
Economists had anticipated slightly higher figures, with forecasts pegged at 8.686 million job openings. The decline in job openings was particularly pronounced in sectors such as construction and finance, which collectively recorded a reduction of 182,000 unfilled positions in construction and 158,000 in finance and insurance.
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