Job openings unexpectedly fell in November and hiring slowed, raising concerns that the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy may have been too restrictive for too long.
Employers said there were 7.15 million at the end of November, the Department of Labor said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report.
This was a decline from the downwardly revised estimate of 7.45 million openbings in the prior month. The first estimate had the prior month’s openings at 7.67 million. Economists had forecast November to come in at 7.65 million. The result reported Wednesday was below even the most pessimistic estimates.
The retreat in openings reinforces the view that the Federal Reserve kept monetary policy too restrictive for too long, refusing to cut interest rates for several months because it overestimated the inflationary impact of President Trump’s tariff policies.
Openings fell in leisure and hospitality and transportation and warehousing. Wholesale trade also saw a contraction in openings. Social assistance and health care, where hiring is closely related to government spending, recorded a significant decline in openings.
Openings in construction, however, grew by 90,000, suggesting builders were looking to staff up for an increase in activity as the Fed began to cut rates. The Fed ultimately cut rates three times at the end of 2025, reducing the federal funds target range by a quarter point at each meeting in September, October, and December. There was no Fed meeting in November.
Hiring also slowed slightly in November, with the number of workers being brought in to a new job falling from 5.4 million to 5.1 million. Hiring increased in the federal government while falling in state and local government, public education, in manufacturing.
At the same time, fewer workers were let go in the month. Layoffs and discharges fell, driven by a decline in the private sector, to the lowest level in six months.
The number of people quitting their jobs rose in November, including increases in accommodation and food services and construction. Rising quits are typically viewed as a sign of worker confidence because workers are more likely to leave their current job when they expect to easily find new work with better pay or working conditions.
Some Fed officials have said in recent weeks that they think monetary policy is no longer restrictive following the Fed’s recent cuts. The market currently expects the Fed to pause any further moves in interest rates while it waits to see the effect of the recent trio of cuts. Critics of the Fed’s policy worry that the Fed may have waited too long to begin cutting last year, possibly damaging the labor market while Fed officials mistakenly assumed tariffs would be inflationary.
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