Job postings and quits continued to decline in May while remaining historically high, according to data from the Bureau of Statistics (BLS) released Wednesday. In total, 11.3 million job offers were recorded at the end of May, ie 427,000 less than in April. And the number of workers leaving their jobs fell very slightly, to 4.3 million from 4.4 million the previous month.
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Job postings fell the most in the professional and business services sector, followed by job postings in the durable goods industry, the BLS said. The job market remains extremely tight, said Lydia Boussour, an economist at Oxford Economics, noting that job vacancies had remained above 11 million for six months, while resignations remained massive and the number of layoffs “extremely low(1.4 million). Since the spring of 2021, employees have been taking advantage of job opportunities, while the offers have far outnumbered the requests. “The job vacancy-to-unemployed ratio, an important indicator of labor market strength, fell slightly to 1.9, (but) it remains the second-highest ratio in history“said Lydia Boussour.
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The Labor Department is due to release its June jobs report on Friday, which should show that the labor market remains strong but shows signs of weakening. This report “should send a reassuring signal that the economy has not entered a recession, but it will also confirm an economic slowdown», Estimates Lydia Boussour. A consensus of analysts expects 250,000 job creations in June against 390,000 in May. They also project a stable unemployment rate of 3.6%. Economists say demand for workers is expected to weaken in the second half of the year and likely into 2023 as growth stalls under the weight of 40-year high inflation and interest rate hikes.
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