The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday that while hiring decreased in October, the number of positions available increased during a month when payroll growth reached its lowest level in almost four years.
According to the BLS’s Job opportunities and Labor Turnover Survey, there were 7.74 million job opportunities for the month, which was more than the Dow Jones estimate of 7.5 million and up 372,000 from September. Openings as a percentage of the labor force increased from 4.4% to 4.6%.
As a result, the ratio of open jobs to unemployed people increased to 1.1, which is almost half of its previous level during the height of the severe supply and demand imbalance in 2022.
Additionally, hiring slowed at a period when the labor market was hampered by two significant strikes involving Boeing and dock workers, as well as violent hurricanes in the Southeast. The hiring rate dropped to 3.3% with 5.31 million hires, a decrease of 269,000 over the previous month. Additionally, that is a 0.2 percentage point drop.
However, the number of layoffs decreased by 169,000 from September to 1.63 million. Additionally, there were 3.33 million voluntary job quitters, up 228,000 from September.
The result is for the weakest month since December 2020, when the BLS reported nonfarm payroll growth of only 12,000.
For indications of tightness or slack in the labor market, the Federal Reserve closely monitors the JOLTS report. In an attempt to ward off any possible labor market downturn, markets anticipate that the Fed will reduce its benchmark borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point when it meets later this month.
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