US job opportunities declined in April, but remained at largely high levels, indicating that wages will continue to rise as companies squeeze workers and inflation will continue to rise for a while.
The survey of job opportunities and labor turnover conducted by the Ministry of Labor, on Wednesday, also showed a drop in layoffs to a record low level, which confirms the scarcity of the job market.
In light of this, the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) is trying to restore supply and demand to the labor market without pushing the unemployment rate too high, while striving to push inflation down to its two percent target.
There is little evidence so far that the tight monetary policy stance of the US central bank is dampening macroeconomic demand.
Jobs, a measure of labor demand, fell by 455,000 to 11.4 million on the last day of April. Data for March was revised upwards to show a record 11.855 million job vacancies instead of the previously reported 11.5 million. The job vacancies in April were in line with economists’ expectations.
And the average job opportunity fell to seven percent from 7.3 percent in March. The unemployment rate stood at a two-year low of 3.6 percent in April.
The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by 75 basis points since March. It is expected to raise the overnight interest rate by half a percentage point at the June and July meetings.
Companies have had difficulty finding workers to fill vacant positions. Employment fell by 59,000 jobs to 6.586 million. This left the employment rate unchanged at 4.4 percent. With workers scarce, layoffs remain low, dropping by 170,000 to an all-time low of 1.246 million. (Archyde.com)
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