U.S. job openings dip to 9.6 million, lowest since 2021
The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, out Tuesday, showed that layoffs rose to 1.8 million, the highest level since December 2020.
The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, out Tuesday, showed that layoffs rose to 1.8 million, the highest level since December 2020.
Another quarter-point rate increase on Wednesday would leave the Fed’s key rate at 5.1%—a 16-year high and a full 5 percentage points higher than in March 2022.
Key measures of prices and wages remained high in March, keeping the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates next week for the 10th time since March of last year in its drive to defeat high inflation.
Thursday’s GDP report was the first of three estimates the Commerce Department will make of growth in the January-March quarter. Economists expect growth to further weaken in the current April-June quarter.
The figures suggest consumers are turning sour on the economy amid expectations that the labor market will soon begin to soften.
Firms saw new orders jump to the highest rate in 11 months, especially in the service sector. That allowed businesses to pass on higher costs to customers, resulting in the fastest jump in output prices in seven months.
The U.S. government said plunging energy prices pulled the producer price index down 0.5% in March from February. It marks the biggest decrease in producer prices in three years.
Reading the inflation report, economists emphasized the need to stay cautious and not treat all sources of price hikes as equal.
Despite last month’s decline, food costs are still up more than 8% in the past year. And restaurant prices, up 0.6% from February to March, have risen nearly 9% from a year ago.
Despite the drop, the number of layoffs ticked lower in February, and more Americans quit their jobs—a sign of confidence they can find better pay or working conditions elsewhere.
Taken as a whole, Friday’s figures show that inflation pressures, though easing gradually, still maintain a grip on the economy.
VisionTech, a group of more than 130 investors, has so far this year made seven investments totaling $1 million. In comparison, the group made a total of 16 investments totaling $2.4 million in all of 2022.
Signs of a possible credit crunch in the United States had begun to emerge even before Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10, raising worries about the stability of the financial system.
The labor market continues to thrive despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy and tamp down inflation.
Adoption and fertility-assistance programs were the perks companies said they were most likely to eliminate, while parental leave and child-care benefits were also on the chopping block.
A growing body of analysts and researchers see a pattern of companies using unusual disruptions as an excuse to raise prices for their goods and services, thereby allowing them to expand profit margins.
Jerome Powell’s more nuanced remarks Wednesday appeared to be an effort to quell any assumption that the Fed has already decided to raise rates more aggressively based on a recent string of data that pointed to strong economic growth and still-high inflation.
For 20 straight months, employers have posted at least 10 million openings—a level never reached before 2021 in Labor Department data going back to 2000.
Jerome Powell’s comments reflect a sharp change in the economic outlook since the Fed’s most recent policy meeting in early February.
The survey adds to evidence that informal work has been increasingly prevalent in the U.S. economy, a trend further exacerbated by the pandemic, social media and remote work.