Recent reports have been pointing to the fact that our job market is slowing down at an alarming rate. The year kick started off with a promising bulk of job openings and a decrease in the number of people applying for unemployment benefits. As the months went on though the progress we gained slowly started to fall back and spring increasingly became a disappointment. Now we find ourselves at the onset of summer and the job market statistics that are coming out are anything but warm and sunny.
According to CNBC, the job openings for the month of April fell to a five-month low. Apparently, that is the sharpest percentage decline we have seen in seven and a half years. The statistics come from a government report that was released this past Tuesday called the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS.) The results show that by the end of April there were only 3.4 million job openings for the month- and 8 percent decline from March.
Not only did the job openings slow, but the pace of hiring slowed down as well that month. In comparison to March, April saw 160,000 fewer jobs filled. Manufacturing and construction seemed to be hit the most, unsurprisingly, with 62,000 less job openings in manufacturing and 2,000 less in construction.
When Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke just last week of the issues we face with our job market, he did not mention that the Federal Reserve would take any special action to possibly aid the market and economy. However, in light of this new report released Tuesday, Federal Reserve policy makers may see more reason to enact more measures to boost the economy. Just yesterday on Tuesday the Federal Open Markets Committee began its two-day meeting. We will have to see what measure, if any, are going to be taken to try and boost our economy.
SOURCE: CNBC
IMAGE: Courtesy of Blue Ridge
