October Jobs Report: US Job Growth Shows Signs of Slowing
Many employers are still struggling to find available workers, but the labor market is loosening. At the same time, companies are balancing their concerns about costs – especially as interest rates remain high – with the need to entice employees.
Overall, labor market turnover has decreased. The share of employees quitting their job has been on a downward trend for 18 months, and the number of layoffs has remained relatively low.
“We are committed and continuing to hire,” Karen S. Lynch, CVS Health’s president and CEO, said in an earnings call this week. “It is a tight labor market, but we have had very good results in hiring.”
The demand for skilled workers remains high.
“The competition for talent, especially the best talent, remains very, very strong,” Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said on his latest earnings call. He added that during a recent search at the bank, which has gone through several layoffs this year, the company had received 260,000 applications for 2,600 available positions.
Companies are also becoming increasingly vigilant about their labor and wage costs.
During S&P Global’s recent call with investors and analysts, the company’s chief financial officer, Ewout Steenbergen, said he expected margins to improve starting next quarter, thanks in part to “tight management of workforce and other expenses.”
For Meta, which has ended its hiring freeze, a significant portion of hiring planned for 2023 will now take place in 2024, said Susan Li, the company’s chief financial officer.
And during the latest earnings call for Southwest Airlines, Tammy Romo, the airline’s chief financial officer, said it expected “more headwinds” in 2024, largely due to higher labor costs.
Amid concerns that labor shortages are exacerbating skills mismatches, many companies are strengthening their artificial intelligence capabilities.
“We want to make sure we take advantage of that opportunity and make the right level of investment in AI,” said Gary Swidler, chief financial officer of Match Group, the online dating company that owns Tinder, Hinge and other services, during its latest revenue calling. “We’re still trying to calibrate what that means in terms of hiring.”