Job Market Hits a Turning Point: Openings Drop Below Number of Job Seekers

America’s once red-hot job market is officially losing steam. Fresh data from the Labor Department shows that in July, US employers posted just 7.18 million job openings — the lowest in 10 months and fewer than the number of unemployed Americans for the first time since 2021.

That stat alone is striking. For years, there were more open jobs than people looking. Now, the tables have turned.

“This is a turning point for the labor market,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “It’s yet another crack.”

What the Numbers Say:

• Job openings fell from 7.36 million in June. Economists expected 7.4 million.
• Health care, social assistance, and retail — normally job-creation engines — saw the steepest cuts. Healthcare openings dropped by 181,000.
• Layoffs ticked up slightly, especially in construction.
• Quits, the measure of how many workers feel confident enough to leave for something better, held steady at 3.2 million.

This is part of a bigger slowdown. Since peaking at 12.1 million openings in March 2022, demand for workers has been cooling steadily.

A few big forces are dragging on hiring. The Federal Reserve’s 11 interest rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 are still rippling through the economy. And President Trump’s ongoing trade wars are spooking managers who might otherwise greenlight new hires.

The slowdown is showing up in revisions too: the Labor Department recently cut a massive 258,000 jobs from its May and June payroll totals. Furious, Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, accusing her of “rigging” the data.

So far in 2025, the economy has added an average of 85,000 jobs a month — half of last year’s pace and nowhere near the blockbuster 400,000-a-month boom during the pandemic rebound.

Friday’s August jobs report could offer a clearer picture. Economists expect around 80,000 new jobs and an unemployment rate holding at 4.2%. But with job openings now matching the number of job seekers — a one-to-one ratio — it’s clear the dynamic has shifted. At the height of the post-COVID recovery, there were two openings for every unemployed person.

The cooling labor market eases fears of wage-driven inflation but makes life harder for job seekers. Fewer openings mean tougher competition, especially in industries like health care and retail that once reliably hired in bulk.

“This job market is frozen, and it’s difficult for anyone to get a job right now,” Long said.

For the Federal Reserve, the data may tip the balance toward cutting rates later this month. For workers, though, the story is simpler: the golden age of easy job-hopping is over, at least for now.

CNN, Axios, CNBC, Bloomberg, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.