A sign of strength in the labor market: Job openings increased in August

The number of available jobs in the US grew in August, signaling an undercurrent of strength in the labor market at a time when its vitals are being carefully monitored by the Federal Reserve.

There were an estimated 8.04 million job openings in August, up from an upwardly revised 7.71 million in July, according to new data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The latest tally equates to 1.1 available jobs for every person looking for one, BLS data shows.

Economists were expecting the number of available jobs to land at 7.682 million, a slight increase from July’s initial total, according to FactSet consensus estimates.

The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report kicks off a week chock-full of critical economic data for the US labor market, culminating with the Friday jobs report. The health of the job market has leap-frogged inflation to become the top concern for the Fed, which cut its benchmark interest rate last month for the first time in four years.

The latest JOLTS report — which also tracks hiring, quitting, layoff and other turnover activity — provides an indication that there’s underlying stability in the labor market despite slowing job growth overall.

The industries seeing the biggest jump in openings were construction; transportation, warehousing and utilities; and state and local government (excluding education). Alternatively, available jobs shrank across many service sectors, including finance, and arts and entertainment.

Hiring activity dipped in August but remained in line with what’s been seen during the past three months. Layoffs dropped as well, showing that worrisome job-cutting activity remains muted.

As the labor market slows and opportunities wane, more workers are staying put: The number of people voluntarily quitting their jobs fell to 3.084 million, the lowest level since September 2020.

Outside of the pandemic, the 1.9% quits rate, which measures voluntary separations as a percentage of total employment, is the lowest seen since 2015.

This story is developing and will be updated.