Job openings unexpectedly rose in January, signaling a robust labor market in the early days of the new Trump administration.
This came in higher than the consensus forecast of 7.63 million.
The most notable increases were observed in retail (143,000), finance and insurance (77,000), and health care and social assistance (58,000). The decline in job openings centered on professional and business services, tumbling 122,000.
Over the year, the number of job openings was down by 728,000.
The number of job quits—a measure monitored by economists as it signals workers’ confidence in finding a new position in today’s economy—increased to 3.266 million from 3.095 million in December.
The quits rate—a metric of voluntary job leavers as a share of total employment—also ticked up to 2.1 percent from 1.9 percent.
Despite the surprising jump in vacancies, hiring and terminations were flat to kick off 2025. The number of hires was flat at 5.4 million, while the number of layoffs was little changed at 1.6 million.
Layoffs of government workers slipped in January, but this trend will likely reverse in upcoming Bureau of Labor Statistics releases.
Financial markets shrugged off the latest employment data as it occurred before President Donald Trump’s changes to trade policy and the turmoil on Wall Street.
“These days, 24 hours might seem like a long time. The JOLTS snapshot was captured at the end of January,” said Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate, in a statement to The Epoch Times.
“While broadly better than expected, the potential impact of the report has been overtaken by recent events, including federal firings, tariffs, a high degree of uncertainty, and financial markets turbulence.”
Labor Market Holding Steady
A treasure trove of recent data indicates that the U.S. labor market remains resilient amid prolonged monetary tightening and softer economic figures and surveys.Initial jobless claims—the number of individuals filing for unemployment benefits for the first time after losing their employed status—tumbled by 21,000 to 221,000 last week.
The Institute for Supply Management’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a measure of the prevailing direction of the sector’s economic performance, indicated a growth in employment in the services industry last month.
“The labor market is holding steady, which should provide salve for investors worried about the cost of the ‘detox period’ as Treasury Secretary [Scott] Bessent highlighted in a recent interview,” said Jeffrey Roach, the chief economist for LPL Financial, in a note emailed to The Epoch Times.
However, economists at RBC Economics do not believe the job market’s strength will persist.
Comerica Bank estimates a cumulative drag of as much as 500,000 on payroll growth from February to July amid federal layoffs and tariffs.
“The forecast still sees the unemployment rate falling below 4 percent by the end of 2025 since immigration has been the primary driver of U.S. labor force growth in the last couple of years and without it, the pool of workers looking to take jobs would stop growing,” said Bill Adams, the chief economist for Comerica Bank, in an emailed note to The Epoch Times.
Consumers are growing more skeptical about the job market.
The probability of finding a job in the next three months if their position were lost today has tumbled since October.
The outlook could evolve over the coming months as the economy digests the White House’s changes to trade and immigration policy.
