We are now at the point where the collapse in job openings is starting to bite

https://twitter.com/GayBearRes/status/1817966316265087364

🚨Paychex small business jobs index fell slightly again for Jul and, while not a large drop, it's the first reading in contraction territory (albeit marginal) since covid; annual growth in weekly earnings came in at 2.87% – has the downturn in the labor market finally begun…? pic.twitter.com/T6IHpZeW1t

— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) July 30, 2024

Sigh. We got jolted!

As shown in the chart below, according to the BLS, in June the total number of job openings did drop by 46K from an upward revised 8.230 million to 8.184 million, where the number of government workers was indeed revised lower, however, the ultimate drop was not as big as we, or the street, had expected and it printed above the consensus estimate of 8.00 million.

And yet, the same data rigging observed last month took place once again, because a quick look at the breakdown shows that while private jobs saw another broad drop in openings across private sectors…

https://confoundedinterest.net/2024/07/30/jolted-us-job-openings-reveals-massive-growth-in-unproductive-government-jobs-and-lack-of-private-sector-job-growth/