April JOLTS Shows Further Cooling
April job openings fell to 8.06 million, down from a revised 8.36 million in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). That is the lowest reading in more than three years and drops the ratio of vacancies per unemployed worker to its lowest level in nearly three years.
Where the Decline Showed Up
The softening spread across multiple sectors:
- Healthcare openings hit a three-year low
- Manufacturing vacancies dropped to their lowest since late 2020
- Government hiring demand also declined
- Accommodation and food services pulled back, likely reflecting California's higher minimum wage; hiring in this sector hit its lowest level since the pandemic onset
Slower Hiring, Not Job Cuts
The cooling has come primarily through slower hiring rather than meaningful layoffs. That is the pattern the Federal Reserve has been hoping to engineer — cooling labor demand without triggering a sharp unemployment spike that would complicate its inflation mandate.
The quits rate remained at its lowest level since 2020, suggesting workers are staying put. That behavior tends to signal reduced confidence in landing a new role, not improved job satisfaction.
Caveats
The BLS data predate the May employment report, which economists expected to show about 185,000 new jobs with the unemployment rate holding steady. Some analysts continue to flag JOLTS reliability concerns given the survey's low response rate, though the directional signal remains instructive.
Implications
For CFOs and auditors, a cooler job market eases wage-cost pressure but raises concerns about consumer demand and top-line growth. The quits rate deserves particular attention — low quits plus low layoffs typically precedes genuine labor-market deterioration rather than a soft landing.