Global Recession Impact?
U.S. job openings fell in December to 7.6 million, the lowest in three months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ JOLTS report.
The numbers: Down from November’s revised 8.16 million and among the lowest estimates in a survey of economists #Bloomberg .
The declines were led by professional and business services, health care, social assistance and financial services.
The ratio of openings to unemployment, a closely watched metric by the Fed, held steady at 1.1 for a sixth month, down from a 2022 peak of 2-to-1.
The hiring rate held steady at 3.4%, one of the lowest in a decade, while the quit rate held steady at 2%, indicating a decline in worker confidence from a year earlier when it was 2.2%.
The data comes ahead of Friday’s monthly jobs report, which is expected to show hiring slowed in January, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.1%.