The BLS released their JOLTS report today and job opening INCREASED from the prior month. The Fed has been aggressively raising rates to cool the economy but there are now more job openings than last month.
The number of job openings increased to 10.7 million on the last business day of September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of hires edged down to 6.1 million, while total separations decreased to 5.7 million. Within separations, quits (4.1 million) changed little and layoffs
and discharges (1.3 million) edged down. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by industry, and by establishment size class.
Job Openings
On the last business day of September, the number of job openings increased to 10.7 million (+437,000), partially offsetting a sharp decline in August. The rate changed little at 6.5 percent in September but was 0.8 percentage point lower than its peak in March 2022. In September, the largest increases in job openings were in accommodation and food services (+215,000); health care and social assistance (+115,000); and transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+111,000). The number of job openings decreased in wholesale trade (-104,000) and in finance and insurance (-83,000). (See table 1.)
To add insult to injury, CORE inflation, CPI and other inflation measures are still running hot. Meanwhile, global inflation is running hot but there is growing expectation that the Fed will “pivot” soon. Get real!
We will continue to be on standby and wait for tomorrow’s FOMC meeting announcement before we execute any trade except for buying more T-Bills or select energy stocks.
In the meantime, stay tuned and stay solvent…