US job openings in May hit 7.8 million in a continuing display of labor market resilience

WASHINGTON AP U S job openings rose unexpectedly in May a sign that the American labor area remains resilien t in the face of high borrowing costs and uncertainty over U S economic protocol U S employers posted million vacancies in May the Labor Department stated Tuesday up from million in April and the highest November s million when former President Joe Biden was still in the White House Economists had expected a slight decrease to million Openings were announced at hotels and restaurants and at finance companies Vacancies at the federal executive fell to the lowest level since May likely reflecting President Donald Trump s hiring freeze The Labor Department s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey JOLTS account established that the number of Americans quitting their job a sign of confidence in their prospects rose modestly and layoffs fell However the account demonstrated that hiring fell in May suggesting that employers though reluctant to lose staff are hesitant about adding workers amid uncertainty over the economic activity Hiring remains depressed but that is less worrisome than it would be otherwise because layoffs continue to be low Nancy Vanden Houten lead U S economist at Oxford Economics wrote in a commentary Openings are high by historical standards but have come down sharply since peaking at a record million in March The U S job realm has steadily decelerated from hiring boom of - when the business sector bounced back from COVID- lockdowns The unexpectedly strong post-pandemic recovery ignited inflation prompting the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark interest rate times in and The higher borrowing costs have gradually cooled the labor sphere and President Donald Trump s strategy of taxing imports at high rates has added uncertainty to the hiring outlook The Labor Department is expected to overview Thursday that the U S commercial sector generated jobs last month according to a survey of forecasters by the statistics firm FactSet That would be down from in May from an average a month in and a from a monthly average of from through The unemployment rate is forecast to tick up to a still-low from in May Source