Home / The Market / Economic Report: Hiring falls slightly in September as recovery in U.S. labor market slackens

Economic Report: Hiring falls slightly in September as recovery in U.S. labor market slackens

A restaurant displays a “Now Hiring” sign amid the coronavirus pandemic in Arlington, Virginia. Companies are still hiring more workers, but not as fast as they were during the summer.

olivier douliery/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The numbers: Job openings in the U.S. rose slightly in September and layoffs declined, but hiring also slowed in another sign of the labor market cooling off.

What happened: The number of job openings increased to 6.4 million in September from 6.35 million in the prior month.

So-called job separations, including layoffs, slipped to 4.66 million from 4.69 million.

Some 5.87 million people were hired in September, down a bit from 5.95 million in August,

Big picture: The big burst of hiring when the economy reopened in May is over. The economy is still adding jobs, but at a much slower pace, leaving about 10 million people who were working before the pandemic still out of work.

Layoffs have also declined, but more jobs are in danger of being lost the longer the economy has to cope with the coronavirus. A record surge in cases in October has also raised worries that states will reimpose some restrictions again on business.

Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.42% and S&P 500 SPX, -0.47% were mixed in Tuesday trades. Stocks soared on Monday after Pfizer PFE, +0.72% said its coronavirus vaccine is more than 90% effective.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

MarketWatch.com – Top Stories

About

Check Also

: ‘We shouldn’t be complacent’: Suicide deaths fell during the 2020 pandemic — but what caused the decline?

Preliminary estimates suggest that suicide deaths declined amid the unprecedented mental-health and economic challenges last …