The US Labour Department on tuesday said that employers posted 10.7 million job vacancies in September, up from 10.3 million in August. According to Associated Press(AP), this unexpected rise in job openings suggests that the American labour market is not cooling off as fast as the US Federal Reserve wanted.
The US Labour Departments data which came out on Tuesday is not as per expectations. Economists had expected the number of job openings to drop below 10 million for the first time since June 2021, reported AP.
The report said that employers have been complaining about the lack of workers for the past two years. As the economy came out of 2020’s Covid recession job openings also rebounded. With so many jobs available in the market, workers can afford to quit and seek another opportunity with higher pay or better perk or flexibility. Companies have been forced to raise wages to attract and keep staff. This has contributed to inflation that has hit 40-years highs in 2022.
Layoffs dropped to 1.3 million in September and 4.1 million people quit their jobs in the same period. These numbers suggest that the labour market has been tight and employers are unwilling to let workers go, the report added.
The Federal Reserve has been raising the benchmark interest to combat higher inflations. On Wednesday it is expected to hike interest rates once again. AP report said that the central bank is aiming for a so-called soft landing raising rates just enough to slow economic growth and bring inflation down without causing a recession.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has expressed hope that inflationary pressure can be relieved by employers cutting job openings, not jobs, the report added.
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