Fewer people are quitting their jobs: BLS data released Tuesday showed that February’s quits rate (voluntary separations as a percentage of employment) remained low. Higher quit rates typically correlate to higher wage and price inflation pressures.
At the same time, layoff activity hasn’t spiked.
Last month, the number of job cuts announced by US-based firms held mostly steady with the activity in March 2023, according to new data released Thursday from outplacement and research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Layoff announcements picked up last month by about 7%. However, that’s an increase of just 0.7% year on year, according to Challenger.
Through the first quarter of this year, layoff announcements are down 5% from the first three months of 2023.
“Many companies appear to be reverting to a ‘do more with less’ approach,” Andy Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement. “While technology continues to lead all industries so far this year, several industries, including energy and industrial manufacturing, are cutting more jobs this year than last.”
The latest weekly jobless claims released Thursday by the Department of Labor released showed that initial applications for unemployment benefits climbed to a nine-week high of 221,000, slightly above expectations. However, the number of people who were already collecting unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 to 1.79 million.
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