US job openings dropped to the lowest level in more than two years in July and fewer Americans quit their positions in the latest sign the labour market is cooling off.
There were 8.8mn job vacancies in July, down from 9.2mn in June, the labour department said on Tuesday. It is the smallest number of openings since March 2021. Economists, who consider job openings to be a proxy for labour demand, expected 9.5mn openings.
lay-offs held steady at 1.6mn, while job quits declined by 253,000 to 3.5mn, indicating continuing labour market softening. They are considered more reliable figures than the volatile openings number.
The latest figures are a welcome sign for the Federal Reserve, which has been raising US borrowing costs at a rapid clip in order to damp demand and alleviate inflationary pressures across the economy.
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