United States hiring rate drops to lowest level since 2011 as job openings slide

Mar 31, 2026, 3:38:25 PM UTC(4 hours ago)

Impact: Medium

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The U.S. hiring rate fell to 3.1 percent in February 2026, marking its lowest point since the early 2011 recovery period excluding the 2020 pandemic anomaly
Total job vacancies slipped to 6.9 million from 7.2 million in the previous month according to the latest Labor Department JOLTS report
Economists describe the current environment as a low-hire low-fire market where companies retain existing staff but remain hesitant to add new positions
Despite the slowdown in new hiring, the national unemployment rate has remained relatively stable at 4.4 percent
Gross hires for the month of February totaled 4.85 million, which represents the fewest monthly hires recorded in over five years

The hiring rate hasn’t been this low since the beginning of 2011. https://t.co/uExzeLyFQg https://t.co/6f8HIgVMjM