3 indicators the job market is seeing what one economist calls an ‘unambiguous cooldown'

cnbc.com:

The job market is still hot but is clearly slowing from the scorching levels seen during much of the past two years, according to labor experts.

Job openings and voluntary worker departures (or, quits) declined in March, while the layoff rate increased, according to data issued Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.   

«Two words: unambiguous cooldown,» Nick Bunker, director of North American economic research at job site Indeed, said of the data in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

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That said, the job market remains favorable for workers despite the recent cooling trend. By many metrics, it's stronger than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, when it was also robust, economists said. The national 3.5% unemployment rate in March ties for the lowest since 1969.

«If you're looking at the current temperature of the labor market, it's still strong, still hot,» Bunker said.

It's unclear if the cooling will continue and at what speed.

The Federal Reserve began raising borrowing costs aggressively last year to cool the economy and labor market, aiming to tame stubbornly high inflation. And a pullback in lending — exacerbated by recent turmoil in the banking sector — may apply an additional brake on the U.S. economy.

Here's what the latest data tell us about the job market.

Job openings — a proxy of employers' demand for workers — dropped to a two-year low in March.

Openings decreased to 9.6 million in March, a drop of 384,000 from February, according to JOLTS data.

Job openings kept