Employment opportunities in the United States fell again in November, in a sign that the job market may be softening

Minneapolis
CNN
–

The total number of available jobs in the United States was 10.46 million in November, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department.

That’s more than the 10 million total jobs expected by economists, according to Refinitiv, and slightly less than the upwardly revised October total of 10.51 million.

Julia Pollack, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, said in a tweet posted shortly after the report was released.

There were still about 1.7 jobs available for every job seeker in November, unchanged from October, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Federal Reserve is watching this ratio closely, since tightness in the labor market means employees have more leverage to command higher wages, which in turn drives up inflation.

Job placement fell to 6.06 million in November from 6.11 million in October, according to the report. Layoffs decreased to 1.35 million from 1.45 million, and the number of people leaving their jobs increased to 4.17 million from 4.05 million.

“The major quit is a far cry from the increase in quits in November to 4.2 million,” Pollack said. “They have now passed 4 million for 18 consecutive months, having reached 3.4 million before the pandemic and an average of 2.6 million in previous years.”

The data comes ahead of the government’s closely watched monthly jobs report, which is due for release on Friday and is expected to show that 200,000 jobs were added to the US economy in December.

While this number is slightly lower than in previous months, it caps off an unusually strong year for the job market – and more importantly, Federal Reserve efforts to slow the economy In order to curb demand and inflation.

This story is developing and will be updated.