For some Americans who are out of work, it “doesn’t feel like a good labor market” thanks to few workers quitting their jobs, a paltry hiring rate, and little in the way of new positions, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said this past week.

“There’s effectively no new net job creation,” Powell said in his last press conference as Fed chair. “In a sense, the labor market is in balance, but it’s an unusual and uncomfortable kind of a balance where people who don’t have jobs will have a hard time breaking in unless somebody quits their job.”

Overall, though, Powell said the job market is showing more signs of stability. The unemployment rate, at 4.3% in March, is a hair higher than it was a year ago, but otherwise relatively low by historical standards. Job growth is weak, but with an aging labor force and declining immigration, fewer jobs may be necessary to maintain a solid level of employment.

Demand for workers has “clearly softened,” Powell said, but “other indicators, including job openings, layoffs, hiring, and nominal wage growth, generally show little change in recent months.”

The country will get a fresh look at the state of the job market this coming week, with March job openings and layoff data due out from the government on May 5 and unemployment and job creation statistics for April out May 8.

Emma Ockerman is a reporter covering the economy and labor for Yahoo Finance. You can reach her at emma.ockerman@yahooinc.com.

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