Why Job Openings Are Falling but Hiring Holds Steady

In Episode 26 of Macro Tuesdays, Lucas and Luna unpack a puzzle in the April JOLTS report: job openings dropped to 6.87 million, the lowest since early 2021, yet layoffs remain low and hiring barely budged. They explore the 'Great Reshuffling' narrative — workers finally settling in — and what it means for wage growth, Fed policy, and the odds of a soft landing. With the unemployment rate at 4.3% and initial jobless claims creeping up, the hosts question whether the labor market is genuinely cooling or just normalizing after two years of chaos. They also discuss how falling quits rates signal less confidence among workers, and why the Fed sees this data as validating a 'wait and see' approach on rate cuts. Specific data points include the 3.6 million quits in March versus 3.8 million a year earlier, and the 1.1 job openings per unemployed worker — down from 2:1 at the peak. #JOLTS #JobOpenings #LaborMarket #FederalReserve #WageGrowth #GreatReshuffling #QuitsRate #SoftLanding #Unemployment #EconomicData #Hiring #MacroTuesdays #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Economics #Podcast #WeeklyEconomicNews #MarketData Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo