WASHINGTON: U.S. job openings fell to a 1-1/2-year low in August and hiring declined, suggesting employment growth was slowing largely because of ebbing demand for labor as the economy loses momentum.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, dropped by 123,000 to a seasonally adjusted 7.05 million in August, the lowest level since March 2018, the government said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS. There were 47,000 fewer job openings in the information sector in August. Economists said the JOLTS data would be closely monitored for clues as to when the longest economic expansion in history, now in its 11th year, might end."Although we only have data for the two prior recessions, on both occasions there was a decline in the job openings rate before the onset of recession," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York.
Job growth has averaged 161,000 per month this year, compared to a monthly gain of 223,000 in 2018. Job gains remain above the roughly 100,000 per month needed to keep up with growth in the working-age population. The unemployment rate fell to near a 50-year low of 3.5per cent in September from 3.7per cent in August.
Slowing economic growth was underscored by a separate report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday showing wholesale inventories rose by a revised 0.2per cent in August. Stocks at wholesalers were previously estimated to have advanced 0.4per cent.