(NewsNation) — Job openings in the United States reached the lowest level they’ve been at since 2021, a sign that the labor market is stabilizing.
This means there are 1.6 jobs for every unemployed worker.
The number of job openings fell to 9.6 million in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Tuesday in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover report. That’s down slightly from May, and much lower than April, when there were 10.3 million openings.
Some industries saw increases, however. Healthcare and social assistance jobs saw 136,000 more openings while state and local government careers, excluding education, also saw an increase: 62,000.
Other fields had a dip in openings: Transportation, warehousing and utilities all dropped by 78,000, while state and local government education went down by 29,000. Federal government jobs saw a 21,000 decrease in openings.
Throughout the month, new hires and total operations decreased to 5.9 and 5.6 million, respectively, according to the Bureau.
The Federal Reserve aims to cool hiring. If companies are less desperate for workers, and fewer people are quitting, businesses will be under less pressure to raise pay to find and keep workers. It’s the Fed’s hope that smaller pay hikes could help lower inflation, as businesses won’t have to lift prices to offset rising labor costs.
Inflation was at 3% as of June — a fact that President Joe Biden and other administration officials celebrated as it exceeded 9% a year ago.
“This is definitely heading in the Goldilocks direction,” Rachel Sederberg, senior economist at labor analytics firm Lightcast, told CNBC, though she added there’s still a long way to go as there are still a lot of openings when compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, Sederberg said, “We’re heading in the right direction and we’re doing so in a calm manner, which is what we want to see.”
The July jobs report is set to be released this Friday. That will show how many positions were added last month, and whether the unemployment rate, which is currently at 3.6%, fell at all.
Economists anticipate the report will show a 200,000 job increase and an unchanged unemployment rate, according to a survey by data provider FactSet.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.