U.S. job openings fell in February, suggesting the labor market was losing momentum even before stringent measures to control the coronavirus outbreak shuttered businesses, throwing millions out of work.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, decreased 130,000 to 6.9 million, the Labor Department said on Tuesday in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS. Vacancies peaked at 7.5 million in January 2019. The job openings rate slipped to 4.3% in February from 4.4% in January.The report came in the wake of data last week showing the economy shed 701,000 jobs in March. The unemployment rate shot up 0.9 percentage point, the most since January 1975, to 4.4 percent in March.
With 10 million people filing for unemployment benefits in the last two weeks of March and millions more expected to have submitted claims last week, economists are expecting payrolls to sink by at least a record 20 million in April and the jobless rate to top 10%.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Job losses could hit 47 million due to the coronavirus—these are the companies hiring remote workers todayThough finding a job in the midst of a pandemic is far from easy, job-search site FlexJobs has created a list of 18 companies hiring for remote positions today.
Read more »
The home gym equipment you need to successfully WOFHIncluding the £30 buy that helped us fall in love with running
Read more »
Oilfield firm Halliburton cuts more U.S. jobs as oil bust deepensOilfield services firm Halliburton on Monday was cutting about 350 employees in Oklahoma, according to a filing with the state, amid a deepening oil bust from the spread of coronavirus and a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Read more »
Uber connects out-of-work U.S. ride-hail drivers to delivery, production jobsUber Technologies Inc said on Monday its app will list job openings in the delivery, food production and grocery industry that its U.S. drivers can access during a slump in ride-hailing demand due to the coronavirus.
Read more »
U.S. health officials say death toll may fall short of most dire projectionsTwo senior U.S. health officials have said they now believe the coronavirus outbreak may kill fewer Americans than some recent projections, pointing to tentative signs that the death toll was starting to level off in New York and other hot spots.
Read more »
Sterling slips after PM Johnson admitted to hospital for testsSterling briefly fell against the U.S. dollar in late Sunday trading on news that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital for tests.
Read more »