According to February data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the number of job vacancies in finance and insurance at the end of 2025 fell to the lowest level in 13 years, and on Saturday the market commentary daily “The Kobeissi Letter” argued that the industry may be “preparing for further layoffs.”
WX postThe Kobeissi Letter highlighted data showing that the number of job postings in finance and insurance has declined by 117,000 since December, reaching 134,000 last month, and that the overall number of job postings in finance and insurance is approaching recession levels.
“Available vacancies in these sectors have declined by -410,000, or -75%, since their peak in 2022. The number of vacancies is now even lower than at the low point of the recession in 2001.” – we read in The Kobeissi Letter, adding:
“By comparison, the largest monthly decline during the 2008 financial crisis was -125,000. As a result, the finance and insurance job vacancy rate fell to 1.9%, meaning less than 2 in 100 jobs in the sector are currently unfilled, the lowest level since February 2010.”
Despite the challenges, the number of jobs in finance has increased
Despite a decline in job postings in December, the financial sector was actually one of the vivid spots in Friday’s report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which found that while the U.S. unexpectedly lost 92,000 jobs in February, the “financial activities” sector saw a net employment gain of 10,000 people.
Instead, the office highlighted the health care sector as one of the key factors responsible for a net loss of 92,000 people after a four-week strike by Kaiser Permanente health care workers that ended overdue last month. The healthcare sector lost 28,000 jobs during the month, representing 30% of the total number of jobs.
Meanwhile, the information sector, transportation and warehousing, and the federal government lost 11,000, 11,000, and 10,000 jobs, respectively.
On Saturday, CNN reported that extreme weather conditions could occur influence numbers, although the bureau’s report indicated that the impact of weather conditions was arduous to estimate
Related: Crypto Fear and Greed Index drops to “extreme fear” level.
A frail labor market could boost the chances of the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates to ease pressure, which could be a boon for the cryptocurrency market.
However, this can also be a double-edged sword, as fragility can prompt investors to adopt risk-mitigating strategies to weather the storm.
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