New data out yesterday showed that job openings in the US fell by more than 1.1 million in August. That's the second largest monthly decline in two decades, only eclipsed by the 1.2 million drop in April 2020.
Cooling off
After almost 18 months in which companies have been struggling to fill positions, with more job openings than people unemployed, US employers seem to be freezing up. Indeed, you don't have to look far to see the real-world evidence of this data. Amazon, the second-largest private employer in the country, announced yesterday that they were freezing hiring for corporate roles in their retail division for the rest of the year. Other companies to have declared some kind of hiring freeze recently include; Tesla, Netflix, Robinhood, Lyft, Ford and Meta.
The good news is that although job openings fell, the job vacancy to unemployed ratio is still high at 1.7, which on any historical comparison would still make 2022 a job-seekers market.