The US labor market remained on fire in March with a record 4.5 million workers quitting their jobs, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Tuesday.
Highlights
- The number of quits increased most significantly in the professional and business services sector, as well as construction.
- The overall quits rate moved up to 3%, a level not seen since December 2021.
- The job openings rate inched back up to 7.1% from 7% in the prior two months.
- Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has frequently pointed to the “unhealthy” tightness of the labor market, which is contributing to high inflation.
- The central bank is set to announce monetary policy changes on Wednesday as it aims to cool the economy just enough to get inflation under control, but not so much as to bring the expansion to a halt.