July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
Source: Economics Group of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
Summary
Job openings data for July showed few signs of the ongoing cooling in the labor market coming to an end. Job openings fell to 7.67 million from a downwardly revised 7.91 million in June, translating into a plummeting in the ratio of job openings per unemployed worker to 1.07. This often cited measure by Fed officials now joins a slew of other labor market data that indicate the jobs market is now softer than it was prior to the pandemic.
For those hoping that softening demand for new workers would stabilize at a “Goldilocks” level, the July JOLTS report is at least one data point in the wrong direction. For the Fed, today’s data reaffirm that the labor market is no longer a source of inflationary pressure to the U.S. economy. With job openings and turnover showing few signs of the past year’s weakening trend in labor market conditions starting to stabilize, all eyes will be turned to Friday’s August employment report to see if July’s rapid deterioration was merely noise or a signal that the jobs market is struggling to maintain traction.