The perks program announced Wednesday comes as the nation’s largest private employer says it’s seeing a decline in worker turnover. But Walmart, like other employers, faces a still-competitive labor market and increasing demands from its employees.
Openings remained at historically strong levels despite high interest rates and signs the economy is slowing.
The number of Americans quitting their jobs fell to the lowest level since January 2021—a sign of diminishing confidence in their ability to find something better. But layoffs fell.
Though layoffs remain at low levels, companies have been announcing more job cuts recently, mostly across technology and media.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, extending the longest stretch of unemployment below 4 percent in five decades.
Friday’s report drastically revised down the government’s estimate of hiring in December and January from what had been blockbuster increases to still-solid gains.
Congress wants to end a tax break meant to encourage businesses to keep workers on the payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. What was expected to cost the federal government $55 billion has instead cost it nearly five times that amount as of July.
At least 250,000 more teenagers are now working compared to before the pandemic, part of a gradual but consequential shift that is boosting employment at restaurants and stores, and changing cultural norms.
Employers are doing a lot less hiring than they were a year ago—a sign that the job market in Indianapolis, and nationwide, has cooled considerably.
The strength of the December hiring, combined with strong wage gains and a declining labor force, could complicate the Federal Reserve’s efforts to guide the United States to a “soft landing.”
The nation’s labor market, though cooling, is still cranking out enough jobs to keep the unemployment rate near historic lows.
After reporting troubles in expanding headcount throughout the pandemic, many employers are now scaling back hiring plans without resorting to outright job cuts.
This fall, the Biden administration unveiled a controversial proposal that would create a staffing requirement, which has faced significant pushback from the nursing home industry.
U.S. employers expect to hire less in 2024, according to several regional Federal Reserve bank surveys, a trend that’s set to limit wage gains and cool inflation pressures.
The November jobs report from the Labor Department is expected to show that employers added a still-solid 172,500 jobs last month, according to a survey of economists by FactSet.
The unemployment rate has come in below 4% for 21 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s.
In another sign of a possible softening in the labor market, the Labor Department revised down its estimate of job growth in August and September by a combined 101,000.
The September openings are down from a record 12 million in March 2022 but remain high by historical standards.
Kloth, a former Indianapolis deputy mayor, helped launch the Indianapolis-based talent-development and job-placement initiative in 2016.
The initiative comes as other Indianapolis-based organizations have ramped up efforts to improve workforce development, which remains a top challenge for many Hoosier businesses.
