In October, America’s employers added a modest 12,000 jobs, a figure economists attribute to the impact of strikes and hurricanes that temporarily removed many workers from payrolls. This report offers a somewhat unclear picture of the job market as the presidential race focuses heavily on voters’ sentiments regarding the economy.
Last month’s hiring gain was a significant drop from the 223,000 jobs added in September. Hurricanes Helene and Milton, along with strikes at Boeing and other locations, are estimated to have reduced net job growth by tens of thousands in October.
With inflation having significantly cooled, the Fed is set to cut its benchmark interest rate next week for a second time and likely again in December. The Fed’s 11 rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 managed to help slow inflation without tipping the economy into a recession. A series of Fed rate cuts should lead, over time, to lower borrowing rates for consumers and businesses.
In the meantime, there have been signs of a slowdown in the job market. This week, the Labor Department reported that employers posted 7.4 million job openings in September. Though that is still more than employers posted on the eve of the 2020 pandemic, it amounted to the fewest openings since January 2021. And 3.1 million Americans quit their jobs in September, the fewest in more than four years. A drop in quits tends to indicate that more workers are losing confidence in their ability to land a better job elsewhere. Even so, with the unemployment rate and the number of people seeking unemployment aid each week still uncommonly low, Americans as a whole continue to enjoy unusual job security. “The cooling of the jobs market is still ongoing,’’ said Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “Overall, the jobs market — it’s not falling apart, but it’s too early to say that conditions have stabilized.’’ For employers, a softer job market is easing the labor shortages that left many of them struggling to find and keep workers over the past few years. Jon Abt, co-president of Abt Electronics in Chicago, said it has become somewhat easier to hire, and his company has felt less pressure to raise wages this year. Still, finding qualified installers and service technicians remains a challenge. The electronics retailer, which employs 1,750, including 200 part-timers, runs its own training program, works with trade schools to find workers and also receives applicants by referral. If the job market deteriorates further, Abt said, “it will be easier to find quality people we are looking for.”
