Americans aren’t getting laid off. And they’re not quitting. They’re simply just not getting hired, and the numbers haven’t been this bad since the pandemic closed the economy by force.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday the hiring rate fell to 3.1% in February, with just 4.8 million hires, the lowest since April 2020. Job openings dropped to 6.9 million, down 358,000 from January.
The quits rate held at a low 1.9%, while layoffs also stayed pinned at 1.1%, and retirements fell back near record lows. Everyone, it seems, is staying put, whether in their jobs or in unemployment.
“It’s a brutal job market,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told Fortune. “To see that 3.1% hiring rate, the lowest since April 2020, when the economy was closed down literally during COVID—it just underscores how little hiring is going on.”
Challenger: US tech sector job cuts rose to 18,720 in March, up 24% YoY, taking the Q1 total to 52,000+; AI accounted for 25% of layoffs across all industries
🦞 connect your agent: https://t.co/UeQk92BdyA
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— TechSnif (@techsnif) April 2, 2026
US CHALLENGER JOB CUTS TOTAL:
60,620 (PREV 48,307)
— Seaside Trader (@csidetrader) April 2, 2026
Airlines could start going bankrupt within weeks amid Middle East chaos with bookings down and oil soaring, Dubai billionaire jet tycoon warns https://t.co/kzk1FwaivS
— Daily Mail US (@Daily_MailUS) April 2, 2026
A Dubai-based billionaire has warned that airlines could begin going bankrupt within weeks as the Middle East conflict sends shockwaves through the aviation industry, with bookings falling and fuel costs surging.
Gediminas Ziemelis, the founder of Avia Solutions Group, has said that the current crisis feels like a repeat of the Covid pandemic, with grounded planes, collapsing demand and no clear timeline for recovery.
‘We need to be ready for any area, district, jurisdiction and geopolitical risk,’ said Ziemelis in an interview with Bloomberg.