WASHINGTON — U.S. job openings fell to the bottom stage in additional than 5 years, one other signal that the American labor market stays sluggish.
The Labor Division reported Tuesday that vacancies fell to six.5 million in December — from 6.9 million in November and the fewest since September 2020. Layoffs rose barely. The variety of folks quitting their jobs — which exhibits confidence of their prospects — was mainly unchanged at 3.2 million.
December openings got here in decrease than economists had forecast.
The economic system is in a puzzling place. Progress is powerful: Gross home product — the nation’s output of products and providers — superior from July by way of September on the quickest tempo in two years. However the job market is sluggish: Employers have added simply 28,000 jobs a month since March. Within the 2021-2023 hiring increase that adopted COVID-19 lockdowns, in contrast, they had been creating 400,000 jobs a month.
Economists try to determine if hiring will speed up to catch as much as sturdy progress or if progress will sluggish to replicate a weak labor market or if advances in synthetic intelligence and automation imply that the economic system can roar forward with out creating many roles.
