US job vacancies in December fell to 7.6 million, hitting a 3-month low.

The number of job vacancies in the United States in December 2024 saw a significant decrease, marking the largest decline in 14 months. However, recruitment, voluntary resignations, and layoffs remained stable, indicating that the labor market is cooling off but still robust.

According to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday, in December last year, job vacancies in the U.S. fell to 7.6 million, reaching the lowest point since September, below Dow Jones & Company’s estimate of 8 million.

This decline resulted in the ratio of job vacancies to available workers dropping to 1.10:1, meaning there are approximately 1.10 job opportunities for every job seeker, down from 1.15 in November. The November data has been revised upward to 8.156 million from the previously reported 8.098 million.

Despite a net increase of 256,000 in non-farm payroll employment in December, the number of job vacancies decreased by 556,000. The proportion of job vacancies to total labor dropped to 4.5%, down 0.4 percentage points from November.

The decrease in job vacancies in December was mainly driven by the professional and business services sector, which collectively cut 225,000 vacancies.

Job vacancies in the healthcare and social assistance sector decreased by 180,000, while vacancies in the financial and insurance industry declined by 136,000. However, vacancies in arts, entertainment, and leisure increased by 65,000.

Small businesses with 10 to 49 employees experienced the largest decline in job vacancies, followed by companies with 50 to 249 employees.

In December, the total number of layoffs was 1.77 million, a decrease of only 29,000. Recruitment numbers slightly increased to 5.46 million, resignations also slightly increased to nearly 3.2 million, and total separations remained relatively unchanged at 5.27 million.

The job vacancy report is published one month later than other employment data, but the Federal Reserve closely monitors this report to detect signs of a weakening or tightening labor market.

Despite the significant drop in job vacancies in December, stable recruitment and low layoff rates suggest that the U.S. labor market is not slowing down abruptly. The Federal Reserve may postpone interest rate cuts at least until June.