According to fresh statistics issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday, US companies aren’t yet doing away with their “help wanted” banners.
According to the most recent Job Vacancies and Labor Turnover Survey, the number of openings surprisingly increased in July, with 11.2 million jobs available, slightly more than June’s revised total of 11 million openings (JOLTS). Approximately 10.5 million new jobs were predicted to be created by economists, according to Refinitiv projections.
It was decided to add around 300,000 positions to the total from June.
This is a huge surprise to the upside, according to Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, who saw a fall in online job ads, a cooling in job seeker confidence, and an increase in reports of offers being withdrawn.
In recent months, she added, “we’ve seen all these stories about layoffs and maybe just experiences with inflation having a chilling effect on job hunters.” “However, this survey shows that firms appear to be recruiting heavily.”
According to the data, there were nearly two positions available per job seeker in July, an increase from 1.8 in June. The Federal Reserve had not anticipated that: The Fed believes that the almost record number of job opportunities is contributing to wage growth, which might ultimately maintain high inflation.
According to Mark Zandi, senior economist of Moody’s Analytics, “The Fed will not be pleased with this data.” This study indicates that the employment market remained quite robust in July, which is crucial for it to slow down.
Total separations and hiring were marginally lower than in June. Less than 6.4 million individuals were hired in July compared to June, a decrease of around 74,000. 4.18 million people in total left their jobs, which is a decrease from the 4.25 million in June.
Unchanged at 1.4 million, layoffs.
According to AnnElizabeth Konkel, senior economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, “this rise [in postings] shows that certain firms will continue to suffer hiring issues.” The need for personnel among employers remains strong.
That demand is stronger in certain industries than others.
Only 88,000 people were laid off or discharged from the hospitality and food services industry in July, which is a new record low, according to Pollak. According to BLS statistics, that industry saw 215,000 average monthly layoffs in 2019.
It draws folks who are just entering the workforce and learning how to hold a job since it has a very high turnover rate, she added. Therefore, it is amazing that almost no one in that sector is being fired.
According to her, the previous “one strike and you’re out” regulations now place the threshold at ten strikes.
Employers believe they definitely cannot afford to terminate employees because it would be too expensive to hire replacements, she added.
