Participants and recruiters at the City Career Fair Recruitment Event held in Sacramento, California, USA on Thursday, February 27th, 2025.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
As job openings increase in January and questions about the stability of the labour market remain questionable, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.
A survey on job openings and labor turnover showed an increase of 232,000 from December, surpassing Dow Jones’ estimates by 7.6 million. This tally maintained the ratio between those who get it and workers between around 1.1-1.
Much of the profit came from retail, increasing the 143,000 positions available, while finance has won 122,000. Professional and business services saw a 122,000 decrease and a 46,000 decrease in leisure and hospitality.
Stopping is a measure of workers’ confidence in their ability to move to other jobs, up 171,000 to 3.27 million.
While job openings were increasing, employment and layoffs have basically been flattened. Actions to ease the federal workforce by the newly created Advisory Committee of the Office of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, were not captured in January data.
“For now, the labour market remains stable. But it’s just January,” said Julia Pollack, chief economist at Ziprecruiter. “The February report could look very different. Federal openings could burst into the door, quit, and eventually the layoffs could start to rise.
Jolts data provides some positive news to the labour market that otherwise show signs of softening. Non-farm salary profits in February fell slightly below market expectations. A recent survey from Challengers shows that Gray and Christmas show a surge in layoff announcements that month.
More recently, job review site Glassdoor has found that employee confidence dates back to 2016, the lowest in the company’s research history.
Federal Reserve officials believe Jolts’ reporting is a key indicator of labor market laxity. The central bank is expected to maintain its key lending rates in the range of 4.25% to 4.5% when it takes place next week.
