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The demand for workers is still strong, according to the latest data.Key Takeaways
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Job openings increased to 7.8 million in May, marking the second straight month that employers have sought to expand their payrolls.
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The rise surprised economists, who have been watching for any impact from President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
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Employers may be moving beyond uncertainty and hiring anyway, economists said, especially as trade tensions with China cooled.
The job market continued to surprise forecasters, as new data for May showed employers again added more job openings and laid off fewer workers. After several months of uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump’s tariffs, employers may be tired of waiting and are moving to add to payrolls.
Job openings increased for a second straight month in May to reach 7.8 million, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires expected the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) to register a slight decline from the April report, which found employers had 7.4 million open positions. Additionally, employers reported fewer layoffs in May, though hiring also slowed slightly.
Economists have been watching for a slowdown in the labor market, pointing to continuing jobless claims and other recent data that indicates a weakening employment landscape. They are also looking for signs that tariffs are having an impact, but so far, the labor market is holding up. Employment data for June is set to be released Thursday.
“Without a clear picture of what may happen if and when the current tariff pause ends, employers may just be making decisions based on what they see today rather than trying to anticipate what happens tomorrow,” said Indeed Hiring Lab economist Allison Shrivastava.
The data also showed that cooling trade tensions with China in May helped employers with their hiring decisions, especially in industries like transportation, warehousing and manufacturing that are more directly impacted by tariffs.
“The trade détente helped reinvigorate small business confidence over the month and may have contributed to the better-than-expected increase in job openings,” wrote Wells Fargo economists Sarah House and Nicole Cervi.
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