BLS: August JOLTS 9.6 Million

The BLS released their JOLTS report and not very surprising it is back up from July to 9.6 million. Why was it not surprising to us? Because millions of boomers are retiring each year, others continue to age and become ill and yet others can’t afford child care or elder care. From BLS.gov:

The number of job openings increased to 9.6 million on the last business day of August, the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month, the number of hires and total separations changed
little at 5.9 million and 5.7 million, respectively. Within separations, quits (3.6 million) and layoffs and
discharges (1.7 million) changed little. 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 August, the number and rate of job openings increased to 9.6 million
(+690,000) and 5.8 percent, respectively. Over the month, job openings increased in professional and
business services (+509,000), finance and insurance (+96,000), state and local government education
(+76,000), nondurable goods manufacturing (+59,000), and federal government (+31,000).

The Fed’s hiking cycle of 525% at this point has barely put a dent in the labor market and without massive layoffs, people will continue to earn money to spend driving up demand and ultimately driving up inflation. We think the Fed will hike in November but the CME Watchtool odds haven’t changed much today and only shows a 33% chance of a raise.

In the meantime, the ten year Treasury bond is spiking to 20 year highs at 4.754% as of the time of this post. Why be invested in stocks when bonds are paying 5 percent which is why stocks continue to sell off. Stay tuned, stay profitable and stay solvent…