Skip to content
Economics
Jobs

US Job Openings Surge Past 11 Million as Fed Zeros In on Labor

  • December increase in vacancies led by leisure and hospitality
  • Ratio of openings to unemployed climbed to near-record 1.9
Job seekers wait in line during a job fair in Las Vegas.

Job seekers wait in line during a job fair in Las Vegas.

Photographer: Ronda Churchill/Bloomberg

By

Updated on

Vacancies at US employers unexpectedly increased at the end of 2022, illustrating a solid appetite for labor that the Federal Reserve sees as one of the last hurdles to bring down inflation.

The number of available positions climbed to a five-month high of just over 11 million in December from 10.4 million a month earlier, the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed Wednesday. The increase was the largest since July 2021 and mostly reflected a jump in vacancies in accommodation and food services.