Job Market Sees Mixed Signals: Openings Drop, Private Hiring Hits New High
5.558 M
U.S. job openings dropped by 418,000 to 7.443 million in September, the lowest level since January 2021. The previous month's data was revised down to 7.861 million from 8.040 million. Hires increased by 123,000 to 5.558 million, while layoffs rose by 165,000 to 1.833 million. Job gains are expected to have slowed in October, with a forecast of 115,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate is predicted to remain unchanged at 4.1%.
233,000
Private job creation surged to 233,000 in October, well above the revised 159,000 in September and the 113,000 forecasted by Dow Jones. This marked the best month for job growth since July 2023, with sectors like education, health services, and trade leading the gains. Wages grew 4.6% year-over-year, while manufacturing saw a decline of 19,000 jobs.
6000
In October 2024, the U.S. job market saw a slight drop in retail employment, with a loss of 6,000 jobs. Meanwhile, transportation and warehousing had modest changes, with warehousing and storage specifically experiencing a small decline. The overall job growth was heavily impacted by external factors such as the Boeing strike and hurricanes, leading to the weakest job increase since December 2020
4.1%
In October 2024, total nonfarm payroll employment saw a slight increase of 12,000, while the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1%. Job growth continued in healthcare and government sectors, but manufacturing employment dropped due to strikes. Temporary help services lost 49,000 jobs, and the average hourly wage increased by 0.4% to $35.46. The labor force participation rate stood at 62.6%, with 7.0 million unemployed individuals.
1.6M
In October, 1.6 million individuals were unemployed for 27 weeks or more, accounting for approximately 23.7% of all unemployed individuals. This represents a rise from 1.3 million in the same period last year. In addition, the total number of unemployed people remained at 7.0 million, with a noticeable decline in employment in manufacturing due to ongoing strikes. Meanwhile, sectors like healthcare and government continued to experience steady job growth.