US Job Openings Plummet to Five-Year Low in December 2025 Amid Cooling Labor Market.
Job seekers face a bleak job market as the number of job openings dropped to its lowest level in over five years, according to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure, released on Thursday, shows that the number of job openings decreased by 386,000 to 6.542 million, the lowest level since September 2020.
This significant drop in job openings is a sign of a cooling labor market, which could potentially impact hiring and employment trends in the coming months. Economists had forecasted 7.2 million unfilled jobs, but the actual figure fell short of expectations.
While the number of unfilled jobs remained at 6.928 million after revisions for November's data, hiring increased to a still-low 5.293 million positions. This increase in hiring, however, is insufficient to offset the decline in job openings.
The drop in job openings could be attributed to various factors, including snowstorms that affected many parts of the country and normalization post-holiday season fluctuations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics noted that initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ended January 31.
Despite this surge in jobless claims, economists are cautioning against an impending recession, with chief economist Carl Weinberg stating that there is no sign of layoffs in a weakening labor market. The current level of unemployment claims remains low and well within the recent range over the past two years.
The delay in Friday's job report, which would provide a more accurate snapshot of the jobs market, could further fuel uncertainty about the state of the economy. As the US government continues to grapple with its latest shutdown, one thing is clear: the labor market remains in a "low hire, low fire" mode, characterized by low levels of hiring and firing.
Job seekers face a bleak job market as the number of job openings dropped to its lowest level in over five years, according to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure, released on Thursday, shows that the number of job openings decreased by 386,000 to 6.542 million, the lowest level since September 2020.
This significant drop in job openings is a sign of a cooling labor market, which could potentially impact hiring and employment trends in the coming months. Economists had forecasted 7.2 million unfilled jobs, but the actual figure fell short of expectations.
While the number of unfilled jobs remained at 6.928 million after revisions for November's data, hiring increased to a still-low 5.293 million positions. This increase in hiring, however, is insufficient to offset the decline in job openings.
The drop in job openings could be attributed to various factors, including snowstorms that affected many parts of the country and normalization post-holiday season fluctuations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics noted that initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ended January 31.
Despite this surge in jobless claims, economists are cautioning against an impending recession, with chief economist Carl Weinberg stating that there is no sign of layoffs in a weakening labor market. The current level of unemployment claims remains low and well within the recent range over the past two years.
The delay in Friday's job report, which would provide a more accurate snapshot of the jobs market, could further fuel uncertainty about the state of the economy. As the US government continues to grapple with its latest shutdown, one thing is clear: the labor market remains in a "low hire, low fire" mode, characterized by low levels of hiring and firing.
I'm not seeing this drop in job openings as that big of a deal... numbers-wise, 6.542 million still sounds like a pretty healthy number to me. I mean, 386k is a lot, but it's not like the market just froze up or something. And yeah, I can see how the holiday season and winter storms might affect hiring numbers. But economists are being cautious about recession talk, which makes sense... we're still in a pretty low unemployment range 
i mean we all knew it was getting tough out there but 6.542 million job openings? that's crazy! 
economists were calling for 7.2 million unfilled jobs but nope, us just ain't having it 
like what's going on guys? did the whole snowstorm thing mess up everyone's plans or wut? 
still gotta feel bad for all those job seekers out there trying to find work tho 
i hope they get some good news soon 
i'm no economist but even i can tell that 6.542 million isn't gonna cut it for people looking for work 
the snowstorms are probably a nice excuse, but post-holiday season stuff usually has some underlying issue 
6.542 million job openings? that's like, really low 
hiring at 5.293 million? that's just a drop in the bucket 
economists say recession is coming but the unemployment claims are still pretty low 
what's going on? 
snowstorms and holidays, yeah i get it but this job thingy is like, totally unpredictable 
idk, economists say it's just the holiday season and snowstorms but i'm like "yeah right" 
. It's like we're all just trying to figure out this whole "adulting" thing, but nobody really has the answers 
.
. what's weird is that economists don't see layoffs happening soon, despite the job market slowing down 
.
The factors contributing to this decline could be attributed to the snowstorms and post-holiday season fluctuations, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics mentioned. But, I'm still keeping an eye on that surge in initial claims for state unemployment benefits - 231k is not insignificant! 
The fact that hiring only increased by 5.293 million is not exactly inspiring... I guess it's back to the days of long wait times for interviews and endless applications 
386k fewer job openings than forecasted? Guess that means more people gotta keep lookin' for work 
. and it's not just that, the number of unfilled jobs is still pretty high at 6.9 million 
️... no signs of an impending recession yet, but i'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad 
. and what really gets me is how this affects people who are already struggling to make ends meet 
. hope everything works out for the better 
. I mean, on one hand, it's good that there are still so many unfilled jobs out there, right? But at the same time, if people aren't finding work when they're looking, it can be tough to make ends meet. My friend just lost her job due to company restructuring and she's been struggling to find a new one... it's like, what's going on with our economy? 
, I mean 6.542 million job openings is still a decent number. But yeah, it's cool to see the numbers dip a bit. Guess we can't expect too many wild hiring sprees anytime soon