Demand for Workers Eased in June, Economists Estimate
U.S. job openings are estimated to have remained robust in June while easing from higher levels earlier in the year amid a broader economic slowdown.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimated the Labor Department will report there were 11 million openings in June, down from the record of 11.9 million in March but still historically high.
Dante DeAntonio,
an economist at
Moody’s Analytics,
estimated that job openings fell below 11 million in June.
The Labor Department will release its estimate of June job openings and the number of times workers quit their jobs on Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET.
“Demand for new workers is easing, but not rapidly,” said
Nick Bunker,
an economist at jobs site Indeed. “We’re not seeing a really sharp pullback in employer demand.” Indeed estimated there were about 11.1 million job openings through July 22.
In June the number of people unemployed but looking for work was 5.9 million, close to half the number of job postings in recent months.
The labor market is showing other signs of slowing, however. Hiring eased in June from higher totals earlier in the year. And initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, in July reached their highest level since November.
Mr. DeAntonio said the increase in claims indicated “some pretty serious weakness in the labor market, and potentially a signal for a recession coming in the future.”
The U.S. economy shrank in the first two quarters of the year, the Commerce Department said last week. A recession is commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product, but Federal Reserve chairman
Jerome Powell
has said that the United States isn’t in a recession.
Mr. Powell pointed to the labor market as a source of U.S. strength. “2.7 million people hired in the first half of the year, it doesn’t make sense that the economy would be in recession,” he said last week after the Fed’s most recent policy meeting.
Worker pay and benefits have risen fast this year, reflecting the imbalance of jobs and available workers. Wages and benefits increased 5.1% in the second quarter compared with the same period a year ago, the Labor Department said Friday. That was the fastest rate of increase on record dating back to 2001.
“Competition for workers remains fierce as employers have to keep bidding up wages for new hires,” Mr. Bunker said. “These red-hot wage-growth statistics may fade in the near term, but there’s a long way for them to drop.”
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Nicole Marquis, chief executive of plant-based restaurant HipCityVeg, said the Philadelphia-based company is always hiring.
“At the end of 2021, HipCityVeg—which spans 10 locations in Pennsylvania, New York and Washington, D.C.—hired a full-time recruiter who worked for the company for less than six months when the business was opening new locations. But now there isn’t a need for the position,” Ms. Marquis said.
HipCityVeg has about 20 to 30 open positions, and is currently looking to fill cashier and cooking roles, among others. “We’re definitely in expansion,” she said. “We’re hiring more than ever.”
Headspace Health, a digital-health company with more than 1,000 employees, expects to hire at least 150 employees by the end of the year.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, there was a “skyrocketing mental health need,” said Russell Glass, the company’s chief executive. “We’re in a business that’s counter cyclical,” he said.
Mr. Glass said the company came to the conclusion that it didn’t make sense to do layoffs. “We’re going to continue to invest in hiring because we see continued massive need. We think the demand, if anything, is going to go up during a period like this.”
Write to Rina Torchinsky at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
U.S. job openings are estimated to have remained robust in June while easing from higher levels earlier in the year amid a broader economic slowdown.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimated the Labor Department will report there were 11 million openings in June, down from the record of 11.9 million in March but still historically high.
Dante DeAntonio,
an economist at
Moody’s Analytics,
estimated that job openings fell below 11 million in June.
The Labor Department will release its estimate of June job openings and the number of times workers quit their jobs on Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET.
“Demand for new workers is easing, but not rapidly,” said
Nick Bunker,
an economist at jobs site Indeed. “We’re not seeing a really sharp pullback in employer demand.” Indeed estimated there were about 11.1 million job openings through July 22.
In June the number of people unemployed but looking for work was 5.9 million, close to half the number of job postings in recent months.
The labor market is showing other signs of slowing, however. Hiring eased in June from higher totals earlier in the year. And initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, in July reached their highest level since November.
Mr. DeAntonio said the increase in claims indicated “some pretty serious weakness in the labor market, and potentially a signal for a recession coming in the future.”
The U.S. economy shrank in the first two quarters of the year, the Commerce Department said last week. A recession is commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product, but Federal Reserve chairman
Jerome Powell
has said that the United States isn’t in a recession.
Mr. Powell pointed to the labor market as a source of U.S. strength. “2.7 million people hired in the first half of the year, it doesn’t make sense that the economy would be in recession,” he said last week after the Fed’s most recent policy meeting.
Worker pay and benefits have risen fast this year, reflecting the imbalance of jobs and available workers. Wages and benefits increased 5.1% in the second quarter compared with the same period a year ago, the Labor Department said Friday. That was the fastest rate of increase on record dating back to 2001.
“Competition for workers remains fierce as employers have to keep bidding up wages for new hires,” Mr. Bunker said. “These red-hot wage-growth statistics may fade in the near term, but there’s a long way for them to drop.”
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
What is your business doing to attract and retain workers? Join the conversation below.
Nicole Marquis, chief executive of plant-based restaurant HipCityVeg, said the Philadelphia-based company is always hiring.
“At the end of 2021, HipCityVeg—which spans 10 locations in Pennsylvania, New York and Washington, D.C.—hired a full-time recruiter who worked for the company for less than six months when the business was opening new locations. But now there isn’t a need for the position,” Ms. Marquis said.
HipCityVeg has about 20 to 30 open positions, and is currently looking to fill cashier and cooking roles, among others. “We’re definitely in expansion,” she said. “We’re hiring more than ever.”
Headspace Health, a digital-health company with more than 1,000 employees, expects to hire at least 150 employees by the end of the year.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, there was a “skyrocketing mental health need,” said Russell Glass, the company’s chief executive. “We’re in a business that’s counter cyclical,” he said.
Mr. Glass said the company came to the conclusion that it didn’t make sense to do layoffs. “We’re going to continue to invest in hiring because we see continued massive need. We think the demand, if anything, is going to go up during a period like this.”
Write to Rina Torchinsky at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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