Labor Market ‘Cracks’ Beginning To Appear As Job Cuts Surge And Unemployment Claims Unexpectedly Rise

U.S.-based employers announced nearly 30,000 cuts in September, up 46% from August and nearly 68% from one year ago—marking the fifth month this year that cuts were higher than in 2021, career services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday morning.

“Some cracks are beginning to appear in the labor market,” the firm’s Andrew Challenger said in a statement, adding that the cooling housing market and Fed’s rate hikes are leading to job cuts among mortgage staff at banks and lenders and that recession concerns have fueled increased uncertainty.

Meanwhile, hiring intentions, which measure the number of new jobs employers plan to add, fell to their lowest level since 2011—suggesting the retail and warehousing firms typically preparing for the holiday season by ramping up hiring are instead waiting to see whether consumers will actually show up, notes Challenger.

In another sign of the labor market finally starting to cool, new jobless claims jumped 15% to 219,000 last week, coming in higher than projected and ending a 10-week streak of better-than-expected data, according to the Labor Department on Thursday.

In emailed comments, Pantheon Macro chief economist said the rising claims aren’t indicative of a changing trend yet, especially since so many firms are still reporting difficulties in finding and retaining workers, but that claims could rise to 230,000 next week, their highest point since late August.