The “low-hire, low-fire” job market persisted in August, as job openings remained steady and layoffs were low, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on Sept. 30.
Available jobs in the US have dropped precipitously since the Covid 19-driven hiring boom that occurred in 2021 and 2022, when openings soared to 12.1 million. In recent months, though, they’ve hovered just above 7 million, remaining at 7.2 million in August, essentially flat from the month prior.
Meanwhile, hiring dipped slightly, as employers hired 5.1 million workers, down from 5.2 million in July. This slowdown in hiring could indicate that recruiters and TA professionals are struggling to find job candidates with the right skillsets, labor market experts told HR Brew.
Seeking the right skills. The rate at which employers hired workers dropped to 3.2% in August, the lowest level since June 2024.
“That definitely means that employers are being a lot more cautious,” said Raj Namboothiry, SVP at Manpower US. “They’re posting roles, but they’re not hiring.”
One potential reason for the hiring slowdown could be “a skills mismatch that continues in the labor market,” he added. Sectors like manufacturing, IT, and technology are seeing desired skillsets advance faster than available talent due to advancements in areas like AI and automation. In other words, “there’s new jobs being defined, new skills being identified…and employers are not able to find talent at the same pace,” Namboothiry said.
The mismatch Namboothiry described could be factoring into job-seeker behavior as well, as more employees are staying put in their current jobs. The rate at which workers quit their jobs declined from 2% to 1.9% in August, signaling “low confidence in what the market’s looking for and how they view their skillsets,” he said.
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While the current 1:1 ratio of available jobs to unemployed workers seems “wonderfully balanced” at first glance, “you go below the surface and you start to see the disruption in particular that’s coming out of the government shifts in hiring patterns, and the displacement via AI,” said Adam Stafford, CEO of recruitment marketing platform Recruitics. Unemployed talent trying to transition from the federal government to the private sector, for example, or find new work in a field that’s being disrupted by AI, “may not have the skills or experience that are demanded” by current job openings.
Investing in current talent. Skills shortages represent both a challenge and an opportunity for HR leaders. In light of the current labor market, recruitment and TA professionals “need to start thinking about…upskilling talent internally, or working with partners to build career pathways for the skills of the future,” Namboothiry said.
ZipRecruiter economist Nicole Bachaud echoed this point in an emailed statement regarding the August data. As skills shift and more members of the Baby Boomer workforce retire, businesses can “invest in upskilling their existing workforce and strategically enhancing employee satisfaction to retain their current talent and avoid further exacerbating the growing skills gap,” she said.