The latest Jobs Opening and Labor Turnover Summary was released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on June 4th. The report goes over statistics up to April 2024 and states that job openings were 8.1 million, a change of 4.8%. Job openings decreased in health care, social assistance, and local and state government, but increased in private educational services. As seen in Chart 1, job openings are down month-over-month, in February-April, and down significantly since April of 2022. The job openings decrease may correlate with the decrease in overall hiring and firing in the U.S. over the last few years, however, overall unemployment numbers increased in April, moving the employment market to stagnation.
While hiring has been slowly declining the last two years, so have separations, as seen in Chart 2.
Late 2021 and early 2022 saw huge spikes in job openings and hiring, after a hardened employment base was forced out of the jobs market, but has slowly been moving downwards since then. We have seen many layoffs in major companies as businesses reallocate their workforce management needs to better suit today’s economy and market needs.
Some may view lower job openings as a sign that the economy is stabilizing, while others may look at the situation and see no light at the end of the tunnel. However, unemployment rates have also stagnated, and remain over 5% in Washington D.C., Nevada, and California. The three states with the lowest unemployment rates are North Dakota (2.0%), South Dakota (2.0%), and Vermont (2.1%), all far below the national average.
With the job market continuing to slow down, it may be wise for most job hoppers to secure their budgets, finances, and even beef up resumes before making a big career change.
For more on careers and resources for resumes and interviews, check out the Career Resources section on Freedom Finances.
