June Job Openings Tumble—Is the Labor Market Cooling Off?

Hiring slowdown hits as job openings drop sharply in June—just as Wall Street starts sweating over 'soft landing' fantasies.

Numbers don't lie: The labor market's sugar rush might be fading faster than a meme coin's bull run.

Meanwhile, traditional finance bros still can't decide if this is a 'healthy correction' or the start of another 'transitory' nightmare.

Key Takeaways

• U.S. employers had 7.4 million job openings in June, down from 7.7 million in May.
  
• The report matched the expectations of forecasters, who expect the job market to languish in a low-hiring, low-firing limbo.
  
• The labor market has slowed in recent months, dragged down by tariffs and high interest rates, though employers have avoided mass layoffs.
  

The job market sputtered along in June, staying in its recent low-hiring, low-firing limbo as tariffs and high interest rates weigh on the economy.

U.S. employers had 7.4 million job openings in June, down from 7.7 million in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday. The figure was slightly lower than 7.5 million the expectations of forecasters, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

Tuesday's report added detail to the bureau's payroll report, which showed the economy added more jobs than expected. The unemployment rate fell, mainly due to an uptick in local government and education employment.

President Donald Trump's unpredictable trade war has weighed on the economy in recent months. Uncertainty about trade policy has led businesses to hold off on investment and hiring decisions. Trump's wide-ranging new import taxes have also increased business costs and dragged on consumer spending. High borrowing costs on all kinds of loans, the result of the Federal Reserve's battle against inflation, are also slowing down the economy.

Still, employers have held on to their existing workforces, avoiding mass layoffs. Trade policy uncertainty has fallen in recent weeks after the TRUMP administration signed several framework trade deals with major trading partners. Many forecasters expect the economy to avoid a recession at least in the near future.