Job openings in the United States have fallen to their lowest level in six years as demand for labor stalled amid concerns about trade, immigration and the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI).
Tuesday’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), a monthly report released by the US Labor Department, showed that job openings fell by 358,000 in February to 6.882 million.
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That was less than the estimated 6.918 million job openings for the month, a steeper decline than experts had expected. In January, the JOLTS report recorded 7.240 million job openings.
Hiring efforts also declined in February, with 498,000 fewer people hired for a total of 4.8 million people. This is the lowest hiring level since March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also, fewer people are leaving their jobs for new jobs, which shows stability in the job market. Last month, 30 lakh people left their jobs at a rate of 1.9 percent.
Along with a stagnant job market, there has also been a broader decline in consumer sentiment.
A March report from the University of Michigan showed that consumer sentiment – a measure of economic confidence – is down 6 percent from last year and 5.8 percent from last month.
Due to this, consumer sentiment reached its lowest level since December.
Economist Heather Boushie, a University of Pennsylvania professor, describes that decline as a response to President Donald Trump’s second-term policies.
“People are becoming increasingly frustrated with Trump’s economy. The cost of big-ticket items and kitchen-table items were already rising, and this morning, we saw the lowest consumer sentiment of 2026 across almost every demographic,” Boushie said in a statement to Al Jazeera.
Even a reluctance among workers to change jobs may indicate a widespread sense of unease with current economic conditions.
The fact that job losses fell slightly this month “suggests that workers remain pessimistic about their prospects in the open market,” said Michelle Evermore, senior fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance.
He said that governments in the US should plan their policies to deal with any fluctuations in the market.
“I would go so far as to say that states should seriously examine their unemployment systems and their readiness to provide an effective countercyclical stability,” Evermore told Al Jazeera.
There are many factors contributing to economic uncertainty under Trump. Since returning to office for a second term, Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs that have faced legal challenges in court.
One of those battles culminated in a Supreme Court decision that blocked the use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs. This has left Trump’s tariff regime in flux, as he has turned to other legal mechanisms to impose import taxes.
Then, there was Trump’s decision to join with Israel in attacking Iran on February 28. Since that attack, a regional war has erupted in the Middle East, and Iran has retaliated by cutting off trade through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for oil and natural gas.
The blow to the global fossil fuel industry is sending prices skyrocketing. For example, in the US, the American Automobile Association (AAA) found that the average price of a gallon (3.79 L) of gasoline is $4.018, up a dollar from the average of $2.982 a month earlier.
“As we are in the fourth week of the war with Iran, energy prices are unlikely to bounce back any time soon, which is likely to keep the bad mood going,” Bouchet said.
Independent experts within the government have also warned about stagnation in the job market.
Earlier this month, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that a “zero-jobs growth equilibrium” carries “realized downside risks.”
America’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, has been under pressure to reduce interest rates under President Donald Trump’s second term.
So far, the bank has opted to keep interest rates stable. It is set to announce its next decision on interest rates at the end of April.
A Labor Department report last week underlined that demand for new workers among companies is low.
It found that private, non-farm enterprises saw their payroll growth slow, down an average of 18,000 jobs per month for the three months ending in February.
Trump’s strictness on immigration has been cited as the reason for the decline.
Despite the labor market being stalled, US markets remained on the rise in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 1.9 percent, the Nasdaq is up 3.4 percent and the S&P 500 is up 2.3 percent since markets opened Tuesday.
