Shrinking Job Market Tightens the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Trap

Weak jobs data released Wednesday (Sept. 3) may make it harder for households living paycheck to paycheck to escape the pressures of their current financial situations.

New jobs promise new income, usually a salary or per-hour bump, as wages overall have been on the rise.

Coming into 2025, PYMNTS Intelligence found that 38% of individuals said they anticipated switching jobs this year. That percentage increased to 56% of those living paycheck to paycheck with issues paying bills, which indicated “that the constraints of their financial lives would incentivize them to consider a move to new employers.”

The read-across is that upward wage mobility translates into a brighter spending picture, or at least savings, which means that some incremental financial firepower would accumulate.

More Seekers Than Positions

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) report showed little change compared to the previous month. Job openings stood at 7.2 million, nearly 200,000 fewer than in June, more than 500,000 fewer than in May, and down over 300,000 from the same period last year. Private sector openings decreased by 138,000.

The job openings rate fell for the second month in a row, dropping to 4.3% in July from 4.4% in June. Overall, there are more individuals seeking positions than there are available positions, and so the jockeying for employment is only intensifying.

The sector most affected was healthcare and social assistance, where openings fell by 181,000 in July and are down 360,000 since May. Retail trade openings also declined by 110,000 after rising 190,000 in June. Arts, entertainment and recreation lost 62,000 openings. On the other hand, some sectors saw increases, including construction (64,000), wholesale trade (54,000) and manufacturing (41,000).

As for hiring, private-sector hiring reversed its downward trend that began in April, increasing by 57,000 in July. Overall nonfarm hiring rose by 41,000. The largest gains came from wholesale trade (27,000) and manufacturing (21,000). Other increases included finance and insurance (12,000), private educational services (12,000) and retail trade (9,000). Despite these gains, several sectors saw sharp declines, including transportation, warehousing, and utilities (52,000), leisure and hospitality (40,000), and state and local government (16,000).