US job openings fall to 7.2 million in March, the lowest level since September

U.S. employers posted 7.2 million vacancies in March, down from 7.5 million in February and 8.1 million in March 2024, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. It was the fewest number of openings since September and below the 7.5 million that economists had forecast.

But the department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary also showed that the number of Americans quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in the economy — rose modestly. And layoffs fell to the lowest level since June.

Openings remain high by historical standards but have fallen steadily since peaking at 12.1 million in March 2022 when the economy was still bouncing back from COVID-19.

The American job market has proven remarkably resilient. Companies, nonprofits and government agencies continued hire in the face of high interest rates engineered by the Federal Reserve to combat a resurgence of inflation.

The economic outlook is uncertain, largely because of Trump’s policies — huge taxes on imports, purges of federal workers and the deportation of immigrants working in the United States illegally.

Still, federal job cuts by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency didn’t have much impact in the March numbers; federal layoffs actually dipped to 8,000 from February’s 19,000, which had been the most since November 2020.

“The job market is continuing to hold its own, but barely,” said Robert Frick, economist with the Navy Federal Credit Union. “While job openings dropped below forecasts, they haven’t hit a post-COVID low.

“Hiring holds steady and layoffs dipped a bit, showing that, overall, employers are clinging to the employees they have. But this is likely the calm before the storm, as layoffs are pending in government contractors and manufacturers, and other sectors affected by government layoffs and tariffs.”