U.S. job openings dropped in August

U.S. job openings dropped in August to their lowest level since June of 2021, CNN reports Tuesday, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The number of job openings dropped from 11.2 million in July to 10.1 million in August. The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that the total number of job openings per employment-seeking individual has decreased from two to 1.7 per person. Per CNN, this decline in open positions is good news for the Federal Reserve, which has expressed concern that tight employment will increase wages and keep inflation elevated.

The job openings rate for August was calculated as 6.2 percent, a slight decrease from July's 6.8 percent.

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In their bid to cool off the economy, Federal Reserve officials posited that rising interest rates would influence employers to reduce their open positions rather than lay people off. The Tuesday data indicates their plan is slowly working, The New York Times writes.

The data also shows that the number of people quitting their jobs remains relatively high, suggesting employees are confident there are openings available, the Times reports. Approximately 4.2 million people voluntarily left their jobs in August, a slight increase from July. That leaves the quits rate at slightly lower than the highest-recording reading of 3 percent, which was reached at the end of last year.