Job Openings Plunge Below Lowest Estimate as Gov’t Openings Crater; Hiring Plummets
7th January 2026
While today’s ADP report was a solid rebound from the worst monthly report in years (even if it missed expectations due to a sudden plunge in California payrolls), the same could not be said for the JOLTS job opening report that followed less than two hours later, and which was another epic disaster: for the month of November (recall JOLTS lags the payrolls report by a month), the US had only 7.146 million job openings, a huge drop from the 7.670 million in October (which was conveniently revised lower to 7.449 million) and the lowest since September 2024.
Pretty sad when we have to depend on government jobs programs to give us positive employment numbers.