Higher rates may be needed, will move carefully: Fed boss

Job Openings Sink , to 2-Year Low. On Aug. 29, the Department of Labor said that job openings dropped from 9.1 million in August to 8.8 million in July. On Aug. 29, the Department of Labor said that job openings dropped from 9.1 million in August to 8.8 million in July. That is the lowest number of job openings since March 2021, Fox News reports. . Economists had predicted 9.46 million available jobs. . But job openings are still historically high. . Prior to the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the highest-recorded number of job openings was 7.6 million. . The current numbers indicate that the Federal Reserve's continuous interest rate hikes are cooling the labor market. . Even though the newest figure was lower than anticipated, demand for employees is still seemingly outpacing the number of available workers. . Cooling the demand for labor has been one of the Fed’s top priorities since it began its rate hike campaign last year, Tuan Nguyen, an economist at RSM, via Fox News. Although vacancies remained above the pre-pandemic level, the rapid unwinding of labor demand should add more reasons for the Fed to consider holding rates at the current rate until the end of the cycle, Tuan Nguyen, an economist at RSM, via Fox News. Meanwhile, the number of Americans leaving their jobs dropped to 3.5 million, indicating that employees are still confident that they can find better work elsewhere.