Jobs Reports Reflect Strong US Labor Market

The number of available jobs in the United States dropped in May, one of several barometers pointing to ongoing strength in the employment market, CNN Business reports.

Job openings fell to 9.82 million at the end of May, dropping from an upwardly revised 10.3 million in April, according to the BLS’ latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report.

But the May JOLTS data also showed that the number of new hires rose to 6.21 million from 6.1 million, quits jumped up to 4.02 million from 3.77 million and layoffs dipped to 1.56 million from 1.59 million.

Openings are down roughly by half from their 12 million peak in March of last year; however, those and other key labor turnover data points remain far afield of their pre-pandemic levels, CNN Business reports.

At the end of May, openings were 40 percent higher, layoffs were 21 percent fewer, and quits were 15 percent above February 2020 levels, said Julia Pollak, Chief Economist for online job site ZipRecruiter to the cable news network.

“This is still a tremendously strong labor market,” she said.

That trend was reflected in a separate report that showed layoff activity had slowed considerably from the past few months. according to new data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, American employers announced 40,709 job cuts in June, the lowest monthly total since October 2022,

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