Job Openings Fall; Consumer Confidence Signals Rising Labor Anxiety — Evening Brief – 09.29.26
U.S. job openings declined to 7.08 million in August from a downwardly revised 7.34 million in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The contraction pushed the job openings rate down to 4.3% from 4.4%.
Sector-specific figures showed professional and business services leading the pullback with a loss of 119,000 openings, followed by health care and social assistance down 115,000. Conversely, accommodation and food services added 60,000 openings, and retail trade gained 54,000.
Despite softening demand, labor turnover held relatively steady. Total hires ticked up to 5.19 million, leaving the hiring rate at 3.3%, while total separations stood at 5.07 million. Voluntary quits held flat at 3.1 million, keeping the quits rate anchored at 1.9%, and layoffs hovered near 1.6 million.
Simultaneously, consumer sentiment deteriorated sharply. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index plunged 6.7 points to 81.9 in September, marking its third consecutive monthly decline. The Present Situation Index dropped 7.9 points to 109.3, and the Expectations Index fell 5.9 points to 63.6.
“Consumer appraisals of current business conditions became negative for the first time since September 2024,” said Dana M. Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board.
Net views of current business conditions fell 3.4 points to –1.9%, driven by an increase in consumers characterizing conditions as “bad.” Labor market assessments also softened, with the differential between consumers viewing jobs as “plentiful” versus “hard to get” narrowing 2.5 points to +1.7%. Sentiment weakened across all political affiliations and older generations, led by declines among Baby Boomers and Gen X.
Inflation expectations turned higher, with average 12-month consumer price expectations rising 0.3 percentage points to 6.1%. Furthermore, 68.4% of respondents anticipated higher interest rates over the coming year, up 5.2 points from August.