The numbers of job openings and quits both fell in July, while hires remained little changed, according to the latest BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover data.
Job openings were down -338,000 to 8.8 million, their lowest since March 2021. The biggest losses were seen in professional and business services (-198,000), healthcare and social assistance (-130,000), and government. The information (+101,000) and transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+75,000) sectors saw growth.
Quits, which serve as a measure of workers’ willingness or ability to leave their job, fell by -253,000 to 3.5 million. Quits fell the most in accommodation and food services (-166,000), wholesale trade (-27,000), and arts, entertainment, and recreation (-17,000).
The data suggest the labor market is starting to loosen.
“Job openings per unemployed person remain above pre-pandemic levels, but this indicator is clearly on a downward trajectory amid cooling labor demand growth and impressive labor supply growth,” Wells Fargo Economics senior economist Sarah House wrote. “A normalizing quit rate suggests that the fight over workers is subsiding, at least at the aggregate level.”
