Dive brief:
- The US continues to face a “low hiring, low fire” labor market.according to The Conference Board’s latest Employment Trends Index, a payroll employment composite index.
- The index fell for the second consecutive month, a pattern that suggests “slower payroll growth ahead,” Jannik Schulz, economic research associate at The Conference Board, said in a statement, adding that not many workers leave.
- Meanwhile, 22.5 percent of consumers said “jobs are hard to come by,” the highest level since January 2021, according to a survey.
Diving knowledge:
The findings line up with information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reported earlier this month Total nonfarm payrolls rose by 57,000 jobs in June. This figure is significantly lower than private sector projections indicated.
Also, payrolls numbers for April and May were revised down by a total of 74,000 jobs, indicating a sharp slowdown could be on the horizon, Glassdoor’s chief economist said in a recent statement.
“Consumers’ pessimistic hiring outlook fueled much of June’s weakness” in the index, Schulz said, adding that this was consistent with labor market conditions.
The Conference Board’s report found that initial claims for unemployment insurance rose in June for the second month in a row to 222,000, representing the largest monthly average on record so far this year.
Schulz said that while “jobless claims remain near historic lows,” the index “interprets the increase as a negative signal for the future labor market.”
However, workers who are capable create and manage artificial intelligence systems they are still in demand, according to recent research from talent acquisition platform ICIMS. In particular, the job market for computer programmers, software developers and database administrators has experienced significant year-on-year growth, despite increasing general layoffs in the technological sector.
