Is the labor market continuing to come to a grinding halt?
It might be early to declare this until the August jobs report is released, but the JOLTS job openings offered a hint of what to expect.
In July, the number of employment vacancies fell below nine million for the first time since March 2021 to a total of 8.827 million. This was below the market consensus of 9.465 million.
Job quits also eased to 3.549 million last month, down from 3.802 million.
Meanwhile, U.S. consumers are far less confident today than they were a month ago.
According to The Conference Board, the Consumer Confidence Index pulled back this month, sliding from 114.0 to 106.1.
The reason? Inflation.
“Consumer confidence fell in August 2023, erasing back-to-back increases in June and July,” said Dana Peterson, Chief Economist at The Conference Board. “August’s disappointing headline number reflected dips in both the current conditions and expectations indexes. Write-in responses showed that consumers were once again preoccupied with rising prices in general, and for groceries and gasoline in particular. The pullback in consumer confidence was evident across all age groups—and most notable among consumers with household incomes of $100,000 or more, as well as those earning less than $50,000. Confidence held relatively steady for consumers with incomes between $50,000 and $99,999.”
Right now, economists expect that the U.S. economy created 180,000 new jobs in August.
Leave a Comment