U.S. job openings declined by more than anticipated in November, while hiring also slowed, pointing to a continued cooling in labor demand amid ongoing economic uncertainty.
Open positions fell by 303,000 to 7.146 million at the end of November, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report measures labor demand across the economy and is closely watched for signals on employment trends.
Data for October was also revised lower, showing 7.449 million job openings instead of the previously reported 7.670 million.
Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected 7.60 million unfilled positions. Hiring fell by 253,000 to 5.115 million in November, reflecting subdued job growth even as economic activity remained strong during the third quarter.
Economists say policy uncertainty—largely linked to import tariffs—has made companies cautious about expanding their workforce, contributing to what some describe as a jobless economic expansion. At the same time, businesses are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence for certain tasks, reducing the need for additional labor.
Many analysts argue these developments point to structural challenges in the labor market rather than a traditional cyclical slowdown.
The BLS is expected to report on Friday that nonfarm payrolls rose by about 60,000 jobs in December, following a gain of 64,000 in November, according to a Reuters survey of economists. Market attention is likely to focus on the unemployment rate for fresh insight into labor market conditions and the near-term outlook for monetary policy.
The jobless rate is forecast to have edged down to 4.5% in December after rising to a more than four-year high of 4.6% in November. The November figure was partly affected by a 43-day federal government shutdown, which also prevented the collection of household survey data for October.
As a result, the unemployment rate for October was not published—the first such omission since the government began tracking the data series in 1948.
