WASHINGTON – The American job market showed fresh signs of weakness in February as available positions declined sharply and companies hired workers at the slowest pace in nearly six years, according to federal employment data released Tuesday.
Available job positions dropped by 358,000 to reach 6.882 million by February’s end, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. This figure fell short of the 6.918 million openings that economic analysts had predicted. The percentage of job openings slipped from 4.4% in January down to 4.2%.
Companies filled 498,000 fewer positions in February, bringing total hiring to just 4.849 million – marking the weakest hiring activity since March 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic began. The hiring rate declined from 3.4% to 3.1% compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, job cuts and terminations rose by 61,000 to 1.721 million, though this remains relatively modest, pushing the layoff rate up slightly from 1.0% to 1.1%.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently characterized the current employment situation as a “zero-employment growth equilibrium” that carries “a feel of downside risk,” noting employers’ hesitation to either significantly expand their workforce or conduct major layoffs.
Economic experts attribute this employment standstill to ongoing uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump’s trade and immigration policy positions, which have affected both worker demand and availability. During the three-month period ending in February, private sector job growth averaged merely 18,000 new positions monthly.
