“It’s gotten harder for the unemployed to find work: Job openings in the U.S. fell at the end of 2024 to the second lowest level since the end of the pandemic.” MarketWatch
Job vacancies reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics have dropped from 8.2 million to 7.6 million openings in just one month. And this is becoming worrisome with the financial markets’ uncertainty over the effects of the federal government efficiency drive that President Trump is promising.
“It’s also taking people who lose a job a lot longer to find one. The number of people collecting unemployment benefits has risen to the highest level since 2018 if the pandemic years are omitted,” said Marketwatch.
This is having an impact on consumer confidence, needless to say, since consumers tend to become more cautious in their spending ways at such times. The Conference Board survey wasn’t upbeat.
“All five components of the Index deteriorated but consumers’ assessments of the present situation experienced the largest decline. Notably, views of current labor market conditions fell for the first time since September, while assessments of business conditions weakened for the second month in a row,” said its Chief Economist, Dana Peterson.
Why the doubts when the just elected Republicans are touting they can cure the budget deficit with a tariff war, which the Wall Street Journal just headlined was “The Dumbest Trade War in History.”
None of this is supposed to happen under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that Mr. Trump negotiated and signed in his first term, according to WSJ’s Editorial Board.
“The U.S. willingness to ignore its treaty obligations, even with friends, won’t make other countries eager to do deals. Maybe Mr. Trump will claim victory and pull back if he wins some token concessions. But if a North American trade war persists, it will qualify as one of the dumbest in history,” says the WSJ.
Then there are the ongoing deportations which will hurt service industries like leisure, transportation, healthcare, and construction which employ a majority of immigrants, especially in the smaller businesses.
The number of job vacancies reported by companies was lowest after the 2008 Great Recession and began the steady climb to 7 million just before the COVID-19 pandemic 7.6 million job openings has stabilized over the past several months, indicating that the job market and so the unemployment report hasn’t changed. There were 5.5 million hires and 5.3 million separations (i.e., left their jobs), indicating that some 200,000 new jobs were created, which will be confirmed in Friday’s official unemployment report.
All three major stock market indexes have been seesawing since Trump enacted, then suspended the Mexican and Canadian tariffs, but not the Chinese 10% tariff. So, it is really up to the new administration to calm the markets, if they don’t want more investors to head for the exits.
And how will the threatened firing of FBI agents calm the waters? Who will then protect us from domestic and foreign terrorists?
Harlan Green © 2025
Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen
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