Job openings fell at the end of May but they didn’t fall as much as economists had projected, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics…(BLS)
- On the last business day of May, the number and rate of job openings decreased to 11.3 million from last month’s 11.4 million.
- The decline this month was thanks to a 325k drop in professional and business services followed by durable goods manufacturing (-138,000), and nondurable goods manufacturing (-70,000).
NOTE: Economists had projected that openings would fall to 11.0M at the end of May.
With such a small monthly drop the great resignation continues as quits and layoffs mainly were unchanged for the month…
- The number of quits was little changed at 4.3 million at the end of May. Quits increased the most in arts, entertainment, and recreation with a jump of 19,000. Quits fell the most in real estate and rental and leasing with a 33,000 drop.
- The number of layoffs and discharges was little changed at 1.4 million. Layoffs and discharges increased in wholesale trade by 24,000 and in federal government (+4,000).
Recently, commodity prices have been falling along with bond yields. More forecasts have also put Q2 in negative territory which would put us in a technical recession. However, with 11 million job openings and only 1.3M continuing jobless claims the labor market remains incredibly tight. I don’t see how you can be in any kind of a recession with this kind of labor market…