Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US job openings increased in April, but layoffs released the biggest growth in nine months, suggesting that labor market conditions are shrinking as tariff uncertainty reduces the economic outlook.
The Labor Department's vacancies and labor movement survey on Tuesday also showed that the number of resignations has been the largest since November. This is in line with the survey showing that consumers are less confident in the job market.
Economists say President Donald Trump's temporary, ever-changing ways of import tariffs put businesses in trouble and work hard to plan ahead. The labor market continues to anchor the economy.
Despite the increase in April, layoffs remain relatively low.
Each unemployed person has 1.03 job openings, with little change from 1.02 in March.
"We refer to this report as another sign of stagnation in U.S. companies facing tariff uncertainty," said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at high frequency economics. "Once companies are sure that bad times are coming, they will start laying off employees."
The Ministry of Labor Statistics Bureau said job vacancy is a measure of labor demand, and by the last day of April, the workload increased by 191,000 to 7.391 million. March data was revised to 7.2 billion public locations, rather than the previously reported 792,000.
Economists who voted by Reuters predicted 71 million job openings. Some of the rise in April's vacancies could be a correction after a sharp decline in March. Vacancies are concentrated in businesses with one to nine employees, and in businesses with 50 to 249 employees.
Professional and commercial services as well as healthcare and social assistance departments account for the majority of unfiled positions. Vacancies in restaurants and bars fell by 135,000. There are also fewer posts on manufacturing, finance and insurance, and state and local government education.
Despite the Trump administration's freezes while cutting costs, federal job openings have increased by 13,000. Job vacancies rose to 4.4% from 4.3% in March.
Last week, a trade court in the U.S. Trade Court prevented most of President Donald Trump's tariffs from taking effect, ruling that the president has surpassed his powers. But a day later, the federal court of appeals temporarily restored tariffs, adding to uncertainty facing businesses.
Stock trading on Wall Street is higher. The dollar rose a basket of currencies. U.S. fiscal yields decline.
Reductions rise
The layoffs rose by 196,000, the biggest increase since July last year, reaching 1.786 billion. After the company encountered labor difficulties during and after the 19th date, the company was accumulating workers. Starting from 1.0% in March, the tax rate for layoffs is 1.1% higher than 1.1%.
Layouts are limited to small and medium-sized enterprises.
They are rising in professional and commercial services, health care and social assistance fields, as well as restaurants and bars. There are also layoffs in construction and manufacturing. But government departments have laid off fewer employees.
"As the Trump administration retreats from the most aggressive tariffs initially announced, the risk of widespread job losses has declined, although uncertainty about trade policy will retreat to uncertainty including business decisions, including recruitment," said Nancy Vanden Houten, an American economist at Oxford Economics.
Driven by the construction, professional and commercial services, hospitality and food service businesses, recruitment increased by 169,000 to 5.573 million. Recruitment in the retail, finance and insurance sectors has declined.
Starting from 3.4% in March, the hiring rate is at its highest of 3.5%. However, economists believe the progress is temporary, suggesting that the number of people collecting unemployment checks is high.
"We suspect that the rise shows employers have started hiring after being in trouble over the past year," said Sarah House, a senior economist at Wells Fargo.
Americans have been working as the economy changes clouds. The number of resignations fell by 150,000 to 3.194 million.
The exit rate is seen as a measure of labor market confidence, falling from 2.1% in March to 2.0%, also suggesting wage inflation. The labor market differences in the conference committee this year have narrowed significantly.
May's employment report is scheduled to be released on Friday.
A Reuters survey of economists showed that non-agricultural wage income may have increased by 130,000 jobs last month. The unemployment rate is expected to remain stable at 4.2%, with greater risks increasing to 4.3%.
“At the beginning, the response to recent trade policy changes was more cautious than action, but we still hope to see weaker labor market data soon, which could be starting with slower job opportunities on Friday and keep moving forward with a lower hiring trend.”
(Reported by Lucia Mutiati; Editors by Chizu Nomiyama, Paul Simao and Andrea Ricci)