According to data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday, February 5th, job vacancies in the United States unexpectedly dropped to the lowest level since 2020 in December 2025, while the number of layoffs slightly increased. This further confirms the weak demand in the labor market.
The JOLTS report released by the Department of Labor shows that the number of job vacancies in December was 6.54 million, lower than the revised figure of 6.93 million in November. This data is below economists’ expectations.
The decrease in job vacancies is mainly attributed to the impacts on the professional and business services as well as the retail trade industry. The increase in layoffs reflects further job cuts in the transportation and warehousing industry. While recruitment numbers have also seen a slight uptick, they remain subdued.
Bloomberg stated that the decrease in job vacancies indicates that companies are still cautiously controlling their hiring rates when evaluating their workforce sizes and economic activities. With the number of unemployed individuals slightly surpassing the number of job vacancies, these data also reaffirm the Federal Reserve’s view that wage growth is not a source of inflationary pressure.
The JOLTS report shows that the job openings per unemployed worker remained at 0.9 in December. This is one of the employment indicators closely monitored by Fed officials as it reflects the balance between labor supply and demand. The ratio peaked at 2 in 2022.
Due to solid economic growth and signs of stabilization in the labor market, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged at its January meeting. However, Chairman Jerome Powell hinted that if the job market further weakens, it could prompt the Fed to further cut interest rates.
Despite some well-known companies announcing layoffs, the latest data on initial jobless claims, which rose last week due to severe cold weather, does not show clear signs of large-scale layoffs. Amazon and United Parcel Service recently announced further layoff plans by 2025.
According to data from the outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., the number of layoffs announced by large companies in January 2026 doubled compared to the same period last year. Their data also shows a weakening willingness to hire by companies.
Consumer confidence surveys indicate that anxiety about the job market is intensifying. The data from the World Economic Forum in January showed that the proportion of consumers who believe the current employment situation is severe reached the highest level since February 2021.
The quit rate (measuring the percentage of voluntary resignations each month) remains near its lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the JOLTS report.
Some economists have raised questions about the validity of the JOLTS data, partly due to the lower response rate in the survey and significant revisions sometimes made.
Another index released daily by the job search website Indeed shows a slight increase in the number of job vacancies in December 2025.
The JOLTS report was originally scheduled to be released earlier this week but was delayed to Thursday due to a partial federal government shutdown.