Challenger: US labor market is starting to cool and employer’s are hiring at a slower clip

Challenger is reporting that they see the labor market starting to cool as the holiday season kicks off. They add:

• Employers are hiring at a slower clip
• Retailers have announced 55,755 job cuts through August
• US retailers will add 410K seasonal positions, which represents the lowest number of jobs added in the 1st quarter since 2008

Is the long-awaited job slow down about to begin? Yesterday initial jobless claims did not point in that direction with jobless claims remaining at a healthy 220K.