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The
department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)
showed that layoffs fell but so did the number of Americans
quitting their jobs - a sign of confidence in their prospects.
And the report's measure of gross hiring also dropped in April,
suggesting that companies remain reluctant to add new workers
even as they hold on to the ones they have.
The American job market has been recovering from a dismal 2025.
Last year, companies, nonprofits and government agencies added
fewer than 10,000 jobs a month, least outside a recession since
2002.
This year has been better — job growth averaged 76,000 a month
from January through April. Big tax refunds — the product of
President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cut bill last year — have
given the economy a lift this year, offsetting the impact of
sharply higher energy prices since the United States and Israel
attacked Iran Feb. 28. But the refunds have mostly been paid out
and are fading as an economic booster.
The United States also doesn’t need as many new jobs as it used
to. Trump’s immigration crackdown and Baby Boomer retirements
mean that fewer people are competing for work. As a result, the
so-called break-even point — the number of new jobs needed every
month to keep the unemployment rate stable — has dropped to near
zero from 155,000 a month two or three years ago, according to
an April report by Federal Reserve economists Seth Murray and
Ivan Vidangos.
On Friday, the Labor Department will issue its job report for
May. The numbers are expected to show that employers added
100,000 jobs last month, according to a survey of forecasters by
the data firm FactSet. The unemployment rate is expected to have
stayed at a low 4.3%.
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