United States Reports Decline in Number of Job Openings in August 2023

By Shubhendra Anand , 08 November, 2023

The United States labor market in August 2023 reported a declining number of job openings in July 2023. The United States economy witnessed the availability of new jobs drop in July 2023, and the US market is losing momentum.

In July 2023, the number of job openings in the United States was 8.8 million, whereas in June, it was 9.2 million. According to the data, the total number of job openings have reduced by 338,000 from June 2023 to 8.827 million in July 2023. The job openings in the United States saw a significant decline from the previous records of June 2023. According to the job openings and labor turnover survey, this record is the lowest since March 2021. The situation prevails as the number of people quitting jobs, a measure of workers' confidence in the job market, and other factors are responsible for such things. According to the data, the number of unemployed people has dropped to 5.84 million between March 2021 and 2023. It implies that more than 1.5 vacant positions will be available for the job seeker, indicating the imbalance between labor demand and supply. Federal Reserve Bank has identified this demand and supply-related imbalance as one of the significant factors driving inflations in 2023. The job openings per vacant position were 1.2 before the 2020 tight labor market. According to the United States Department of Labor Market released data, on the last business day of July 2023, there were 8.8 million job openings in the United States. The job openings have decreased in the professional and business sectors, state and local government (here, education has been excluded), and healthcare sectors, among others, in 2023. The number of rises in job openings is seen in the transportation, information, and warehousing industries, among others, in 2023.

Based on the survey reports, the United States labor market remained robust despite the Fed's continuous raise of interest rates in 2023. The downward job openings in the labor market increase the chances of the Fed holding off on more hikes in 2023. The unemployment rate falling to 3.5 percent in July 2023 indicates that the labor market in the United States is cooling down. The Fed officials view that the labor market should balance out the wages of laborers to cool inflation.