Hiring slows but labor market stays resilient: New Hires Quality Index for November

Older man works in a greenhouse wearing an apron and tending plants
The Upjohn Institute New Hires Quality Index dropped under 0.1 percent to $21.25 between August and September. Hiring volume was down 1.2 percent over the month and 4.5 percent from February 2020, to near an all-time low. Hiring rates are down 4.0 percent over the year and 7.5 percent from just before the pandemic.
Despite these declines, and other signs of weakening, the labor market remains resilient, index creator Brad Hershbein writes in this month’s news release. Hershbein spotlights the different trends for newly hired part-time and full-time workers.
In the past 12 months or so, the NHQI wage index for full-time hires dropped 1.7 percent while rising 1.4 percent for part-time workers, to near a record high. The rising index for part-time new hires might be a sign of a recession, Hershbein writes, if part-time hiring rose relative to full-time hiring. That hasn’t been the case, suggesting that more people are getting hired part-time because they want to work part-time, not because they can’t get full-time work.
Read the full analysis or explore the index.     
How to use the New Hires Quality Index:     

Date: October 29, 2024