The U.S. job market is flashing red, with multiple indicators falling to their lowest levels since the 2020 pandemic.

ME News message. On April 3 (UTC+8), according to data from The Kobeissi Letter, the number of U.S. government job openings in February fell to 701,000, the second-lowest level since December 2020, down 524,000 versus the 2022 peak. Federal government vacancies were left at only 89,000, and the hiring rate fell to 1.4%, matching the lows of 2016 to 2017. Private-sector companies also cut jobs significantly at the same time: Oracle reportedly cut up to 30,000 jobs, Amazon reduced 16,000 positions, and Block laid off more than 4,000 people. As for consumer confidence, only 27.3% said they believe jobs are plentiful, far below about 55% in 2022. The labor-market disparity indicator dropped to 5.8 percentage points, the lowest since the pandemic. Kobeissi noted that this indicator has historically been a reliable leading signal of rising unemployment; this level has only been seen around economic recessions. (Source: ChainCatcher)