The S&P 500 (SPX) is trading higher on Tuesday after March’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed a hiring rate of 3.5% in the U.S., the highest since May 2024. The hiring rate was 3.1% in February, the lowest since April 2020.
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Trade QQQ with leverage“The war in Iran is likely to halt progress,” said Navy Federal Credit Union Chief Economist Heather Long. “But any sign of a hiring pickup is welcome news after the ‘hiring recession’ in the past year or so.” During the month, professional and business services hiring increased by 165,000, while hires in the federal government fell by 7,000.
Job Openings Hold Steady Despite War Uncertainty
The survey also showed 6.866 million job openings, above the estimate of 6.85 million but falling from 6.922 million in the prior month. February’s figure was revised upwards from 6.882 million. Furthermore, the job openings rate was 4.1%, below the expectation of 4.2% and down from 4.2% in February.
Job openings have remained stable over the past few months, signaling that uncertainty from the U.S.-Iran war hasn’t meaningfully disrupted hiring trends or led to a pullback in labor demand.