U.S. job openings fell to their lowest level in 3 1/2 years in September

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of job openings in the U.S. fell last month to its lowest level since January 2021, a sign that the job market is losing some momentum. Nevertheless, the advertised positions are still significantly above the level before the pandemic.

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that job openings fell to 7.4 million in September from 7.9 million in August. Economists had expected the level of openings to remain almost unchanged. Job vacancies declined, particularly at healthcare companies and authorities at the federal, state and local levels.

The number of layoffs also increased. And the number of Americans who quit their jobs fell below 3.1 million, the lowest level since August 2020.

“Workers are no longer as confident as before about finding a job if they quit without taking another,” wrote Carl Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics in a commentary. Still, they added, “there are no signs of a sudden labor market collapse or impending recession here. “The labor market may be weaker, but it is not imploding.”

Although job openings have fallen sharply since their peak of 12.2 million in 2022, they are still higher than before the coronavirus pandemic that crippled the American economy in early 2020. Find enough workers to keep up with customer orders to keep.

The overheated economy triggered a burst of inflation, and the Federal Reserve responded by raising its key interest rate 11 times in 2022 and 2023. Inflation has fallen to 2.4% from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022.

The economy proved surprisingly resilient amid the Fed's rate hikes and avoided a widely predicted recession. However, compared to a surge in hiring from 2021 to 2023, job creation has slowed this year – to an average of 200,000 new jobs per month from January to September this year. But that's a healthy decline from the record average of 604,000 jobs per month in 2021 at the end of the pandemic lockdowns, 377,000 in 2022 and 251,000 last year.

Nevertheless, employers created an unexpectedly strong 254,000 jobs in September. On Friday, the Labor Department is expected to report that the economy added 120,000 jobs in October, a total likely to be dampened by the impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton as well as a strike at Boeing. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at a low 4.1%, according to a forecaster survey by data firm FactSet.