The U.S. job market is flashing warning signs, with multiple indicators dropping to their lowest levels since the 2020 pandemic.

ZkProver · 2026-04-03T06:16:13+00:00

U.S. government job vacancies dropped to 701,000 in February, the lowest since December 2020. Federal vacancies stand at 89,000, with the hiring rate falling to 1.4%. Private companies are significantly cutting jobs, with Oracle laying off 30,000, Amazon 16,000, and Block over 4,000. Consumer confidence has declined, with only 27.3% believing that jobs are plentiful.

ZkProver

2026-04-03 06:16:13

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ChainCatcher messages, according to data from The Kobeissi Letter, the number of U.S. government job openings fell to 701,000 in February, the second-lowest level since December 2020, down by 524,000 from the 2022 peak. Only 89,000 federal government vacancies remain, and the hiring rate fell to 1.4%, matching the lows of 2016 to 2017. Private companies also carried out large-scale layoffs at the same time: Oracle reportedly laid off up to 30,000 people, Amazon cut 16,000 jobs, and Block laid off more than 4,000 people.

On consumer confidence, the share of respondents who believe jobs are plentiful was only 27.3%, far below about 55% in 2022; the labor market differential indicator fell to 5.8 percentage points, the lowest since the pandemic. Kobeissi noted that this indicator has historically been a reliable leading signal of rising unemployment; currently, it has only appeared around before and after economic recessions.

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