There were fewer U.S. job openings in December.
Openings dropped to 7.6 million after reaching 8.2 million in November, according to statistics released by the Labor Department Tuesday. Openings were down from 8.9 million a year earlier and a peak of 12.2 million in March 2022 following the lockdowns of the Covid pandemic.
The number of layoffs also fell, an indication that Americans have job security. The number of people quitting their jobs rose slightly but stayed below pre-pandemic levels.
A Labor Department report indicated professional and businesses services companies scaled back their job postings. Openings also fell in healthcare and social assistance and finance and insurance but ticked higher in arts, entertainment and recreation.
“The December JOLTS report is consistent with the Fed’s view that the labor market is healthy enough to tolerate a more cautious approach to lowering rates, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding tariff policy,” Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, told The Associated Press. She added that the report “painted a familiar picture of the labor market, with a low pace of layoffs keeping net job growth positive despite a slow pace of hiring.”
