In a 4-Year First, Job Seekers Outnumber Openings

For the first time since 2021, there are more Americans looking for work than there are jobs to fill, according to the latest Labor Department data. July saw job openings drop to 7.2 million—a heftier decrease than expected—while the number of jobseekers ticked up to 7.24 million. The gap, though slight, signals a key shift in the job market's balance of power, the Hill reports.

Economists point to a clear cooling trend. "The job openings-to-unemployed ratio fell below 1.0 for the first time since April 2021, signaling a loosening demand for workers," noted Oxford Economics' Nancy Vanden Houten. Private sector job openings slipped for the second month in a row, with notable losses in sectors including healthcare, arts and entertainment, and mining. Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro Research says drops in the "acyclical" healthcare and state and local government sectors are notable because they have been lifting growth the most and without them, "you don't really have much else keep[ing] payroll growth with a plus sign in front of it," Bloomberg reports.

Despite the softening, hiring edged up a bit to 5.3 million, and the number of workers quitting their jobs remained steady, suggesting many are opting for job security in uncertain times. The closely watched "quits rate," which tracks the number of people leaving jobs voluntarily, hasn't budged since May. The bleak job opening figures follow a lackluster July employment report, which showed job creation barely outpacing the number needed to keep up with natural attrition. The unemployment rate, however, remains low at 4.2%. President Trump responded to the July numbers by firing the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.