By Jarrell Dillard
Bloomberg News
(TNS)
U.S. job openings picked up in October to the highest level in five months, though less hiring and more layoffs pointed to a continued slowdown in the labor market.
The number of available positions rose slightly to 7.67 million in October from 7.66 million in the prior month, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data published Tuesday. Vacancies exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The release of both monthly figures was delayed because of the government shutdown.
While openings advanced, it was only was driven by a handful of industries like retail and wholesale trade industries, as well as health care. The latter has been the biggest driver of job growth this year.
Meanwhile, the number of layoffs in October rose to 1.85 million, the highest since the start of 2023 and largely fueled by accommodation and food services, according to the JOLTS report. Hiring declined by 218,000 after surging in the month prior.
That’s consistent with more modest demand for labor in some sectors as employers adjust to a higher-cost environment, partly due to U.S. trade policy, and lingering economic uncertainty. Other data point to a pickup in job-cut announcements.
Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander U.S. Capital Markets, said the higher level of vacancies for two consecutive months against a backdrop of less hiring and more layoffs, shows the labor market is slowing but not as significantly as some alternative data sources suggest.
“The broad message is the labor market isn’t overheating or accelerating in a major way but it’s also not falling apart,” Stanley said.
Still, investors widely expect Federal Reserve officials to lower interest rates on Wednesday by a quarter percentage point. U.S. Treasury yields rose and the S&P 500 remained higher after the JOLTS report.
The so-called quits rate, which measures the percentage of people voluntarily leaving their jobs each month, fell to the lowest since May 2020. This suggests people are less confident in their ability to find a new position.
Some economists have questioned the validity of the JOLTS data, in part due to the survey’s low response rate and sometimes sizable revisions. A separate index by job-posting site Indeed, which is reported on a daily basis, showed openings declined in October from the month prior, but rebounded in November.
The BLS noted in the release that due to the government shutdown, it temporarily suspended typical methods used to adjust the openings data for October. The agency will issue the November JOLTS report on Jan. 7 and the December employment report on Jan. 9.
— With assistance from Mark Niquette and Molly Smith.
Photo credit: THEPALMER/iStock
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©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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