The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday the hiring rate fell to 3.1% in February, with just 4.8 million hires, the lowest since April 2020. Job openings dropped to 6.9 million, down 358,000 from January. The quits rate held at a low 1.9%, while layoffs also stayed pinned at 1.1%, and retirements fell back near record lows. Everyone, it seems, is staying put, whether in their jobs or in unemployment.
“It’s a brutal job market,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told Fortune. “To see that 3.1% hiring rate, the lowest since April 2020, when the economy was closed down literally during COVID—it just underscores how little hiring is going on.”
The comparison to 2020 is what makes this report so jarring. Back then, hiring collapsed because businesses were physically shuttered. Today, unemployment is around 4%, businesses are open, but…
