Job Openings
Job openings in June totaled a record high of 6.163mm up from 5.702mm in May. Notwithstanding this, hiring’s fell by 103k m/o/m but this is very volatile month to month as it rose by 416k in the month prior. The hiring rate did hold steady at 3.7%. The demand for labor grew in construction, manufacturing, trade/transport, financial services, professional/business services, education/health, leisure/hospitality and for state and local governments. Thus it was widespread. The problem remains however and seen in the July NFIB index, the dearth of supply of labor. That is not new, it has been a major issue in this recovery for the past few years and is reflected in the low pace of firings and slowing pace of hirings over the past few years. Elsewhere, there was a 72k person decline in the number of quitters and the quit rate fell one tenth to 2.1%.
Bottom line, this report in its own way summed up the situation with the labor market where the demand for qualified warm bodies remains healthy but the supply of them remains stunted for reasons we all know. As a reminder, here is a chart of the participation rate for 25-54 year olds, the heart and soul of the labor market.
Peter is the Chief Investment Officer at Bleakley Advisory Group and is a CNBC contributor.