US voluntary job quits hit record; Job openings stay above pre-pandemic level: JOLTS



by   |  VIEW 1361

US voluntary job quits hit record; Job openings stay above pre-pandemic level: JOLTS
US voluntary job quits hit record; Job openings stay above pre-pandemic level: JOLTS (Provided by Financial World)

On Friday, the US Labour Department’s closely monitored monthly JOLTS (Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey) report had revealed that the number of Americans willingly quitting their jobs reached a fresh record in September, however, job openings had been chartering well above a pre-pandemic level, raising possibilities that more businesses would continue to hike pay-offs in order to lure in employees in an utterly squeezed US labour market.

In factuality, Friday’s Sept JOLTS data had illustrated a broad-based bumpy ride lurking over the horizon on an embattled US labour market that could heave inflation indicators comfortably higher deeper into the 2022, as strong demands of consumers’ goods and services that came against the backdrop of a horrendous labour and goods’ shortage, drove US CPI (Consumer Price Index) to a 31-year peak last month.

Unsurprisingly, with US household wealth hovering well beyond record levels, American business owners showed little or no signs of easing wage-hikes ahead of a busy holiday season amid a persistently tightening US labour market, while a sharp decline in delta cases seemingly had failed to draw in more workers as more Americans cordially welcomed a pointless series of gargantuan pandemic stimulus package after and before the US November Presidential election that had soared US household wealth to a record high while leaning a wrangled US labour market and submissively catalysing a supply chain woe across the US, suggested analysts.

So far, wage growth jumped as much as 4.9 per cent over past twelve months through October.

US voluntary job quits hit record

According to US Labour Department’s JOLTS report, voluntary quits jumped to 164,000 in September, raising the total to an all-time high of 4.4 million, while job openings, a critical indicator to labour demand, marginally lowered to 10.4 million as of Sept 30, however, remained well above pre-pandemic levels.

Meanwhile, addressing to a growing desperation among US businesses to secure workers ahead of an all-important holiday season, a senior US economist at Capital Economist in New York, Michael Pearce said following the JOLTS data, “The continued surge in quits points to wage growth of between 4.5%-5.0%, well above rates that would be consistent with inflation falling sustainably back towards the Fed's 2% target. ”