Job openings fell the most since October 2023

Job openings fell in December in biggest decline since October 2023, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday—although the dip coincided with a small increase in new hires, the layoff rate was flat, and there are still more openings than job seekers.

The Federal Reserve will likely see this as a sign the labor market has cooled, according to Conrad DeQuadros, a senior economic advisor at Brean Capital. Central bankers will probably see the decline of 556,000 openings, to 7.6 million, as a sign “that the labor market has cooled from a previously overheated state,”, DeQuadros told Reuters.

December’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) adds another indicator to the “generally solid labor market” column, according to Cory Stahle, an economist at Indeed. “While hires and quits rates remain historically low, their stabilization in recent months may be signaling an inflection point,” he wrote.

On the other hand. While new hires rose 89,000 in December, “they were, however, down 325,000 over the year,” Reuters reported. It’s taking job-seekers longer to get those offers, too, MarketWatch reported, and long-term unemployment saw a “sharp increase.” More people are getting unemployment benefits than at any time since 2018, if you don’t count the Covid-19 pandemic, according to MarketWatch.

January jobs and unemployment figures are expected on Friday.