Indeed’s head of economic research declares “the Great Resignation has come to an end” after today’s (Aug 29) JOLTS data showed just how much job openings have been declining while fewer workers are quitting. The stock market re-inflated on this news because it means the end of inflation.

Every business day, the business news website “MarketWatch” posts one “Market Snapshot” article to summarize what happened in the markets that day. In today's Market Snapshot article, the head of economic research at Indeed Hiring Lab made quite an interesting statement.

Here's the Market Snapshot article from today, Aug 29, 2023:

• Dow ends nearly 300 points higher, with investors mulling Fed move after drop in job openings

FTA:

Stocks posted the third consecutive day of gains in an otherwise downbeat trading month for August.

New numbers showed job openings in July retreating to a 28-month low while fewer workers were quitting. Job listings dropped to 8.8 million, lower than the forecast of 9.5 million. Meanwhile, 3.5 million people quit their jobs in July, the lowest level in over two and a half years — a sign that job seekers are getting more cautious.

Consumer confidence also fell in August, dropping to 106.1 from 114, according to the Conference Board. Compared to July, slightly fewer people in August are saying jobs are “plentiful,” while slightly more people are saying a new job is “hard to get.”

The data increased the chances that the Federal Reserve will ease off on any additional interest-rate hikes.

“Today’s JOLTS data show that the Great Resignation has come to an end and the path toward a soft landing remains open,” said Nick Bunker, head of economic research at Indeed Hiring Lab.

“This reduction in job-hopping signals that wage growth will continue to cool as employers face less pressure to attract new hires and retain current employees. This trend, plus the decline in job openings and dormant layoffs, is likely to please Fed policy makers,” Bunker said.

The “JOLTS data” they're talking about is from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' “Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey”, found here:

• https://www.bls.gov/jlt/

With today's data release here:

• https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm

For those who don't know, “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indeed Indeed]” is “the highest-traffic job website in the United States.” So what the head of economic research at this company says regarding employment in the United States is worth listening to. He's literally declaring that The Great Resignation is over. Is anyone concerned about this?

The MarketWatch article didn't mention that this quote that “the Great Resignation has come to an end” was pulled from the Indeed Hiring Lab website (an economic data website run by Ineed) today, in this article:

• July 2023 JOLTS Report: The Great Resignation is Behind Us – Workers are now quitting their jobs at a rate similar to 2019’s level, job openings continue to decline, and layoffs remain low. The Fed should be encouraged.

Interesting that this comes across as good news, as the subheadline says “The Fed should be encouraged“, like it has positive connotations.

Some more from this article:

Quitting is coming down because job seekers are finding fewer opportunities…The US labor market remains on solid footing, but demand for labor needs to continue declining as supply rises to meet it, all as inflation continues to cool.

“needs to continue declining”???

I would like to remind people that I posted a heads up on this on r/antiwork on May 22, 2022, and some people in the comments claimed that there wasn't an agenda by the Federal Reserve to persuade businesses into stop hiring workers:

• Federal Reserve tells business owners to unite against the workers and impose a hiring freeze in order to lower wages because workers being paid a living wage is causing inflation. Threatens higher interest rates to lower stock prices to force business owners to comply (and be off the hook)

Now, I don't believe that the Federal Reserve actually forced any businesses to do this, but that the businessmen all need someone to point to for blame while they all actually agree that workers need to be weakened. But at least at this point in time, we have more references to use as proof that there's some kind of agenda to weaken the workers' standing in the workplace and economy, and that both government and businesses are involved in making this happen, and that business owners are pleased to see when the agenda gets fulfilled.

Anyone who paid attention to the stock market today, Aug 29, 2023, will notice that lots of stocks rallied today. The S&P 500 was up 1.45%, which is a pretty high number for one day. I find it interesting that in this environment where we're supposed to be angry at workers' wages being so high that they cause inflation, we're also supposed to celebrate the lowering of workers' wages by inflating stock prices.

Doesn't anyone else notice that as workers wages deflate, stock prices inflate? I thought we were supposed to be stopping inflation altogether, not move it from workers to owners.