U.S. job openings declined slightly in June, but the data was still broadly indicative of a stable labor market after June's weaker-than-expected payroll report.
Available positions fell slightly to 7.4 million in June from May's 7.5 million. Openings in healthcare and social assistance fell by 147,000. Financial activities and construction saw increased vacancies. Meanwhile, leisure and hospitality saw a decline in openings.
Some economists predicted a pullback in openings after the Conference Board's labor market differential--the percentage of consumers viewing jobs as "plentiful" minus those viewing them as "hard to get"-ticked down. The decrease was driven by fewer consumers reporting that jobs are "plentiful"--signaling opportunities may have felt more scarce.
The hiring rate was 3.4% in June, up from 3.3% in May, with about 5.3 million Americans landing new jobs in June. The rate of workers facing layoffs held steady, which aligns with recent low jobless claims figures.
Hires ticking up even as postings slow is the kind of detail that keeps this from reading as a market losing steam, said Nicole Bachaud, labor economist at ZipRecruiter. "Whether that holds through the summer will depend a lot on whether prices and consumer spending stabilize or keep sliding."
The quit rate, or workers leaving their jobs voluntarily, was little changed at 3.2 million, while the rate was unchanged at 2.0% from May. The quits rate can serve as a measure of workers' willingness or ability to leave their job.
The U.S. economy added 57,000 jobs in June, short of analysts' expectations. The healthcare and social assistance sector drove job gains, while hiring in the leisure and hospitality sector declined. The Labor Department said that decrease reflected "weaker than usual seasonal hiring."
More information on job growth will come Friday from the Labor Department's employment situation report for July. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal are expecting 83,000 jobs to be added.
Any encouraging jobs momentum will allow The Federal Reserve to sustain its focus on getting inflation back down to its 2% target. However, some economists are a bit less sanguine on the state of the labor market.
"Given the sluggishness in hiring in June, and given perceptions of the labor market, I would be unsurprised, that we do see some material softening in the back half of the year," said Lawrence Werther, chief U.S. economist at Daiwa Capital Markets.
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