{"id":9008,"date":"2022-09-26T19:21:25","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T19:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/affinityhrgroup.com\/?p=9008"},"modified":"2023-11-27T20:21:08","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T20:21:08","slug":"labor-market-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theworkplaceadvisors.com\/labor-market-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor Market Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following labor market summary was prepared by Susan Pale, Vice President of Compensation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Where has 2023 gone? It\u2019s a question I keep asking myself, and I\u2019m guessing many of you are asking the same thing. It seems we were just ushering in a new year. But a lot has happened \u2013 inflation rates are going down, fuel prices are $1.00 less than this time last year in many places, and grocery prices dipped in March for the first time since 2020. That\u2019s all good news, right? At the same time, tech, media, finance, and, most recently, retail organizations have announced layoffs of thousands of workers. That\u2019s bad news, right? And the economy has added an average of 341,000 jobs every month during the last 12-month period. We\u2019ll talk more about all this later in this report, but the 2023 labor market has economists, business leaders, and a lot of others scratching their heads.<\/span><\/p>\n

AI burst into our lives in 2023, and now we can\u2019t help but hear about it every day. There\u2019s way too much information to even begin to incorporate here, but my Affinity HR Group friend and colleague, Paige McAllister, has written a great, informative article titled <\/span>The AI Revolution: Impacts on Workplaces and HR<\/span><\/i>. Be sure to check it out at <\/span>https:\/\/affinityhrgroup.com\/the-ai-revolution-impacts-on-workplaces-hr\/<\/span><\/a>. The only other thing I am going to say about AI is that the content of this report was not created with the assistance of generative AI.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recruitment and Unemployment<\/strong><\/p>\n

On July 6, the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) issued its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS report) for May 2023.\u00a0 There is a ton of information in this report, but some of the information below may help to explain why the labor market continues to be strong.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Category<\/b><\/td>\nNumber as of 5\/31\/2023<\/b><\/td>\nNumber as of 12\/31\/2022<\/b><\/td>\n5 Month Change<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Job Openings<\/span><\/td>\n9.8 million<\/span><\/td>\n10.8 million<\/span><\/td>\n-1,000,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hires<\/span><\/td>\n6.2 million<\/span><\/td>\n6.4 million<\/span><\/td>\n-200,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Separations<\/span><\/td>\n5.9 million<\/span><\/td>\n5.9 million<\/span><\/td>\nUnchanged<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

During this 5-month period, the largest decreases in job openings occurred in the healthcare, finance and insurance, and other services sectors.<\/span><\/p>\n

The US also added 209,000 new jobs in June 2023. While this is a more modest number than in the past few months, it remains significantly high, as does the unemployment rate, which remains quite low at 3.6%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As always, unemployment varies significantly by geographic area. Right now, the areas with the lowest unemployment rate (under 1.5%) are all located in Vermont and New Hampshire. And, not so unusually, El Centro, California tops the list with a 16.0% unemployment rate.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all been hearing about layoffs in the last several months. Some of the numbers are big, but it\u2019s important to understand the context. A lot of organizations really ramped up hiring during COVID and post-COVID and are now shedding some of those hires. For example, Microsoft announced it would lay off 10,000 employees earlier this year. That sounds like a huge number, but Microsoft hired almost 60,000 employees during the last three years. So they still end up with 50,000 more employees than three years ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HR Brew reported back in May that several states, in an attempt to address labor shortages, have passed legislation to allow minors to work later and longer hours. In Ohio, the 7 p.m. work limit will be eliminated for children aged 14 and 15 during the school year, and in Iowa children aged 16 and 17 will be allowed to serve alcohol with a parent\u2019s permission. All this comes at the same time as the USDOL is reporting that child labor law violations have increased 69% since 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

What employers need to do<\/strong><\/p>\n