Job Openings and Private Sector Hires The graph below shows job openings (blue line) and new private sector hires (green line) over a longer-term perspective, the 10-year period from January 2016 through February 2026. The shaded area indicates a period designated recession by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Recent trends in both job openings and new private sector hires generally reflected a softening labor market in 2025. After peaking in early 2022 following the recession, both the number of job openings and the number of private sector hires have fluctuated but generally trended downward. That trend continued in 2025; although job openings increased slightly in early 2026, private sector hires declined. 2025 began with 7.8 million job openings, but the year ended with the fewest job openings since September 2020. The number of openings fell to 6.5 million in December, down from 6.9 million in November. In 2025, the number of private sector job hires peaked in April at 5.3 million before declining to 5.0 million in December. Job openings reached 6.8 million in February 2026, but private sector hires declined to 4.5 million, the lowest level since April 2020. Job Openings and New Private Sector Hires, thousands January 2016-February 2026 (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics via Federal Reserve Bank Database)
The Unemployment Rate The table below shows the unemployment rate since 2022. The unemployment rate is the percentage of unemployed people in the labor force that are willing and available to work and who have actively sought work within the past four weeks. Recently, the benchmark for maximum employment without excessive inflation has been an unemployment rate of 3.5%. Although the unemployment rate has been at relatively low levels since 2022, it generally trended up in 2025. The unemployment rate began the year at 4.0% and ended the year at 4.4%. After fluctuating between 4.0% and 4.5%, the rate appeared to be stabilizing at the end of 2025. Between December 2025 and March 2026, the rate varied between 4.3% and 4.4%. In March 2026, the number of unemployed people was at 7.2 million, similar to the level a year ago. Annual Job Growth (in thousands) 2000-2025 (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics) Year Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 2022 4.0 3.9 3.7 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.6 3.5 3.6 3.6 3.5 2023 3.5 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.7 3.7 3.9 3.7 3.8 2024 3.7 3.9 3.9 3.9 3.9 4.1 4.2 4.2 4.1 4.1 4.2 4.1 2025 4.0 4.2 4.2 4.2 4.3 4.1 4.3 4.3 4.4 N/A 4.5 4.4 2026 4.3 4.4 4.3 N/A = data is not available due to government shutdown Monthly low is highlighted in yellow
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Center for Business and Economic Insight
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