Job Openings in October Slumped to the Lowest Level Since February 2021, Indeed Measure Shows

• Employment opportunities hit their lowest level in more than 4½ years as October ended and the government shutdown dragged on, according to data from jobs site Indeed. The firm’s Job Postings Index¹fell to 101.9 as of Oct. 24, the most recent point for which data is available. That’s the lowest since early February 2021 for a measure that uses February 2020 as a baseline value of 100.
• The level represents a 0.5% decline from the beginning of the month and a roughly 3.5% tumble from mid-August, the latest point from which Bureau of Labour Statistics data is available.
• Under normal conditions, the BLS on Tuesday would have reported its monthly Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey, a measure that Federal Reserve officials watch closely for indications of slack in the jobs market. With the shutdown on the precipice of being the longest in history, economists and policymakers are left to look at alternative data for big-picture indicators.
• The most recent JOLTS report, for August, also indicated an ongoing decline in openings. The BLS reported that job openings totalled 7.23 million, about the level of July but down 7.0% from January.
• A softening labour market has generated concern from Fed officials. Last week, the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee voted 10-2 to lower its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to a target range of 3.75%-4%. Officials have cited rising risks to the labour market taking precedence over ongoing concerns about inflation holding nearly a full percentage point above the Fed’s 2% target.

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¹A job postings index is a metric that measures the number of new job advertisements posted online over a specific period, like a day or a month.

(Source: CNBC)