More than 10 million jobs remain open, even after several months of record hiring. May saw 384,000 jobs filled, and in June payrolls increased by 372,000. In July, the number of jobs filled exploded to 528,000. Each month exceeded estimates, which seemingly contradicts other signals of economic slowdown. Despite the currently resilient job market, the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates in response to the highest inflation rate in decades, which could amplify the effects of any slowdown.
With inflation and rising interest grabbing the headlines, layoffs have already begun in certain sectors of the economy and have flown relatively under the radar until recently. Amazon has announced that it is eliminating 10,000 jobs across several divisions. Meta, the Facebook parent company, is cutting 11,000 jobs. Ride-sharing company Lyft recently announced that it is reducing its workforce by 13% following recent 2% cuts. Car sales company Carvana has announced plans to cut at least 12% of its staff, or 2,500 employees. Mortgage startup Better.com laid off about 4,000 people in the first three months of 2022, and recently followed up with another 3,000 layoffs. J.P. Morgan has recently confirmed that it will lay off more than 1,000 employees in its home-lending department. Real estate brokerage Compass is laying off almost 10% of its workforce, and Redfin, another brokerage, is laying off approximately 6% of its workforce. Remax has announced that it will lay off 17% of its workers by year’s end.