Job openings showed surprising increase to 7.4 million in April
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed available jobs totaled nearly 7.4 million, an increase of 191,000 from March and higher than the 7.1 million consensus forecast by economists surveyed by FactSet. On an annual basis, the level was off 228,000, or about 3%.
The ratio of available jobs to unemployed workers was down to 1.03 to 1 for the month, close to the March level.
Hiring also increased for the month, rising by 169,000 to 5.6 million, while layoffs rose by 196,000 to 1.79 million.
Quits, an indicator of worker confidence in their ability to find another job, edged lower, falling by 150,000 to 3.2 million.
'The labor market is returning to more normal levels despite the uncertainty within the macro outlook,' wrote Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Research. 'Underlying patterns in hirings and firings suggest the labor market is holding steady.'
The report comes just a few days ahead of the BLS nonfarm payrolls count for May.
With other signs, particularly sentiment data, showing that hiring is softening, economists expect job growth of 125,000, down from the 177,000 in April but still indicative of a solid labor market. The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 4.2%.
In other economic news Tuesday, the Commerce Department reported that new orders for manufactured goods fell more than expected in April. Orders fell 3.7% on the month, more than the 3.3% Dow Jones forecast and indicative of declining demand after swelling 3.4% in March as businesses sought to get ahead of President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Shipment also fell, down 0.3%, while unfilled orders were relatively flat and inventories edged down 0.1%.
Federal Reserve officials are watching the various data points carefully for clues as to how various factors are affecting the broader economic picture. There is some fear that the tariffs will raise inflation and slow hiring, though that hasn't showed up yet in the hard data. Sentiment surveys, by contrast, show heightened fears over both.
'For many sectors, I'm not hearing that the labor markets are changing in material ways,' Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said in a scrum with reporters Tuesday. 'At the macro level, I haven't gotten sort of a strong overarching picture or impression that things are moving in a significant way, and we'll just have to see if that stays or whether something changes.'
Traders largely expect the Fed to keep its benchmark borrowing rate steady in a range between 4.25%-4.5%, where it has been since December 2024. The market thinks the Fed won't cut again until September, and Bostic said he only would favor one reduction this year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Trump says Brazil's Lula can call him anytime
WASHINGTON/BRASILIA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva can call him anytime to discuss tariffs and other friction between the countries. "He can talk to me anytime he wants," Trump said of Lula, speaking to reporters at the White House. He added he was fond of the Brazilian people but "the people running Brazil did the wrong thing." Later, speaking with reporters in Brasilia, Brazil Finance Minister Fernando Haddad called Trump's remarks "great," saying he is sure Lula feels the same, and would be willing to receive a call from the U.S. president. In a post on his X account, Lula said Brazil has always been open to dialogue, although he did not mention Trump nor his earlier remarks. Trump slapped a 50% tariff on Brazil, with many exemptions, starting next week to fight what he has called a "witch hunt" against former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial on charges of plotting a coup following his election loss in 2022. The U.S. also announced sanctions on a Brazilian Supreme Court justice who has been overseeing Bolsonaro's trial. Lula has rejected both the sanctions and the tariffs, calling them "unjustifiable" and an "unacceptable" interference in Brazil's justice system. Haddad said his planned virtual meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent next week will pave the way for an eventual meeting between Lula and Trump, but noted such a move would require preparation. Earlier this week, Haddad said Brazil needed assurance Lula would not face the same treatment as Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who came under fire from Trump and Vice President JD Vance during a heated exchange at the White House earlier this year.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Trump fires BLS commissioner, raising concerns about data quality
U.S. President Donald Trump fired the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Friday (August 1) after data showed weaker-than-expected employment growth in July and massive downward revisions to the prior two months' job counts. Freddie Joyner reports.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Rwanda, Congo agree on outline for economic framework as part of peace deal
WASHINGTON/PARIS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday agreed on an outline for the regional economic integration framework, according to the U.S. State Department, as the two countries take steps toward delivering on a peace deal signed in Washington last month. The tenets agreed on Friday summarize the framework, which includes elements of cooperation on energy, infrastructure, mineral supply chains, national parks and public health, the State Department said in a statement. Rwanda and Congo signed a peace deal in Washington in June at talks held by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, which aims to bring an end to fighting that has killed thousands and attract billions of dollars of Western investment to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals. As part of the deal, Kinshasa and Kigali agreed to launch a regional economic integration framework within 90 days, the agreement said. A source familiar with the matter said a preliminary draft of the framework has been agreed to and there would now be an input period to get reaction from the private sector and civil society before it is finalized. The framework is planned to be signed at a meeting of heads of state at the White House. No date has been set yet for that meeting, the source said. In the Friday statement, Rwanda and Congo affirmed that each country has "full, sovereign control" over the exploitation, processing and export of its natural resources and recognized the importance of developing mineral processing and transformation capacity within each country, according to a copy seen by Reuters. Kinshasa views the plundering of its mineral wealth as a key driver of the conflict between its forces and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo. Reuters reported in May that Congolese minerals such as tungsten, tantalum and tin, which Kinshasa has long accused neighbouring Rwanda of illegally exploiting, could be exported legitimately to Rwanda for processing under the terms of the deal being negotiated by the U.S., according to sources. The two countries are committed to ensuring that the minerals trade no longer provides funding to armed groups and to create a world-class industrial mining sector in the region, as well as to ensure better cross-border interoperability on mineral supply chains, according to the statement. They also agreed to connect new infrastructure to the U.S.-backed Lobito Corridor, underscoring Washington's aim of greater access to resources in the region and efforts to counter China. The Ruzizi III hydropower project and Lake Kivu methane exploitation were the only specific projects mentioned in the statement, despite U.S. emphasis on critical minerals. The countries said they intended to prioritize financing for Ruzizi and work together to exploit the methane gas sustainably. Friday's announcement comes after the two countries held the first meeting of a joint oversight committee on Thursday in a step toward implementing the Washington peace deal even as other commitments are yet to be fulfilled. In the Washington agreement, the two African countries pledged to implement a 2024 deal that would see Rwandan troops withdraw from eastern Congo within 90 days. Congolese military operations targeting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Congo-based armed group that includes remnants of Rwanda's former army and militias that carried out a 1994 genocide, are meant to conclude over the same timeframe. The deal also said Congo and Rwanda would form a joint security coordination mechanism within 30 days and implement a plan agreed last year to monitor and verify the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers within three months. But 30 days from the signing has passed without a meeting of the joint security coordination mechanism. The source familiar with the matter said the joint security coordination mechanism meeting would be held on August 7 in Addis Ababa. Congo is also involved in direct talks with M23 hosted by Qatar, and last month the two sides pledged to sign a separate peace agreement by August 18, though many outstanding details need to be negotiated.
