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By Shane Croucher
Senior Editor
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The number of job openings slid to 6.5 million in December, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released Thursday, the fewest in more than five years.
A persistently weak labor market is defying the stronger headline economic growth in the U.S. that President Donald Trump has claimed as a personal success since he returned to the White House.
A cooling jobs market can curb wage gains, dampen consumer confidence, and shape voter perceptions of the economy heading into the 2026 midterm elections—where Republicans are fighting to keep their majorities in the House and Senate.
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“The hiring recession isn’t going to end anytime soon,'' Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in a commentary.
"Job openings in December just fell to their lowest level since September 2020. It’s yet another sign of how little hiring–or interest in hiring–is happening in this economy.”
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The BLS said the number of job openings fell by 386,000 on the month in December and was down by 966,000 over the year. December openings came in lower than economists had forecast.
There was little change in the number of layoffs, at 1.8 million, and the number of people who quit their jobs, at 3.2 million.
Exactly why the jobs market is weak in an otherwise strong economy is something of a puzzle for economists.
But they see a mix of potential reasons, including Trump's tariff wars, lower immigration, and the displacement of roles by AI, among others.
On Wednesday, payroll processor ADP reported that private employers added just 22,000 jobs last month, far fewer than forecasters had expected.
Employers have added just 28,000 jobs a month since March. In the 2021-2023 hiring boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns, by contrast, they were creating 400,000 jobs a month.
And the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday that companies slashed more than 108,000 jobs last month, the most since October and the worst January for job cuts since 2009.
A recent report from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) found that 25.2 percent of the U.S. workforce could now be classified as "functionally unemployed"—meaning jobless, seeking but unable to secure full-time employment or earning "poverty-level wages."
Polling data suggests these labor market issues and other concerns about the economy are on voters' minds, and Trump may pay the price in November at the midterms.
If Republicans lose the trifecta, Democrats could complicate and disrupt the final two years of Trump's term as he tries to push through his ambitious—and highly contentious—agenda.
Multiple independent surveys reported diminished confidence in Trump’s handling of core domestic issues and a preference that he prioritize the economy over foreign policy—conditions that historically correlate with midterm losses for the president’s party.
A series of new national surveys found voters souring on the economy, voicing concerns about health care costs, and saying Trump is overemphasizing foreign policy as his approval slid to a second-term low.
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.
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