The labor market remains stagnant, as job openings increased only slightly in August and hiring declined. “The job market is frozen,” Long wrote. And it appears to be getting worse.”Indeed, consumers’ sentiment about the state of the labor market has been souring, though the overall unemployment rate has remained relatively low at 4.3%. “A low level of job creation would historically put upward pressure on the unemployment rate, though so far that effect has been muted because of the decline in labor force growth,” Jefferson said. “There has been a marked decline in payroll employment growth — averaging only 29,000 jobs per month since May,” the economists said.