U.S. Job Openings Slide to 14-Month Low as Hiring Slows Sharply

Job openings in the United States fell to 7.146 million in November 2025, a decline of roughly 303,000 from October and the weakest monthly tally since September 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The November figure was materially below the consensus forecast of about 7.61 million vacancies and marked a second consecutive monthly drop in openings, signaling a clear moderation in employer demand for labor.

Hires moderated alongside openings, with monthly hires slipping by about 253,000 to 5.115 million. At the same time, the number of unemployed workers stood at 7.831 million, producing a jobs-to-unemployed-worker ratio of 0.91, about 0.91 openings per unemployed person. That ratio is significantly below pre-pandemic levels and is the lowest reading since March 2021, an assessment highlighted by Advisorperspectives in its analysis of the JOLTS data.

Economists view the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, as a direct measure of labor demand that complements the unemployment rate’s measurement of labor supply. A decline in openings together with slower hiring points to easing labor-market tightness: fewer vacancies relative to jobseekers typically reduces firms’ need to raise pay aggressively to attract workers and can lower turnover as hiring slows.

The November drop was unexpected and comes as policymakers and markets scrutinize whether slower job growth will persist. Private payroll data for December from ADP, compiled with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, showed U.S. private payrolls rose by 41,000, a modest gain that several economists caution may not align closely with the government’s nonfarm payrolls measure. Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, noted that the December headlines conveyed slower employment gains, saying, "the visual signal from today’s headline is that jobs were gained in December, but at a relatively slow pace."

For the Federal Reserve, the JOLTS decline is a data point in a broader assessment of labor-market cooling and its implications for inflation. If weakening demand reduces wage growth, it would ease one channel of inflationary pressure and could reduce the urgency for additional policy tightening. Policymakers typically look for consistent signals across payrolls, wage measures, and vacancy data before changing the stance of monetary policy.

Business leaders are likely to interpret the November JOLTS results as a reason to reassess hiring plans and investment timetables. For jobseekers, a jobs-per-worker ratio below 1.0 means tougher competition for openings than in the recent tight labor market, with potential consequences for bargaining power and mobility.

Analysts will watch the December employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for confirmation of the cooling trend. If declines in openings and hires persist, the data would suggest a meaningful shift in the labor market that could shape economic forecasts and policy choices in the months ahead.