Consumers are feeling the pains of a cooling labor market.

On Tuesday, the latest Consumer Confidence Index release showed a narrowing margin between respondents who are finding jobs "plentiful" and those who are finding jobs "hard to get."

The Conference Board senior economist Stephanie Guichard told Yahoo Finance that workers feeling less confident about the labor market isn't "something unexpected," given a recent rise in the unemployment rate and a decline in job openings.

But to Guichard, it's less of a red flag about where the labor market sits today and more about consumers reacting to a shift from a "super hot" job market to one that is just "strong."

"When you look at the history of the labor market, this is still among the best labor [markets] we've had," Guichard said. "But consumers are reacting to the change."

Recent data has undoubtedly shown a labor market that's far cooler than the hot jobs market of 2022, which rebounded following pandemic shutdowns. The unemployment rate has steadily crept up in 2024 and sits at 4.2%, near its highest level in almost three years. Meanwhile, job gains have slowed, with the US economy recording two of its lowest monthly job addition periods of 2024 in July and August.

Job openings in July were at their lowest level since January 2021, while quits — remember "quiet quitting?" — have also ticked lower. This, economists say, has marked a shift from the "Great Resignation," where new jobs and hefty raises were plentiful, to the "Great Stay" where layoffs haven't picked up but fewer people are switching jobs.

Guy Berger, the director of economic research at The Burning Glass Institute, a research center that studies labor data, told Yahoo Finance that the declining number of quits shows that workers are feeling the impacts of a weaker labor market.

"It's the realization that if they leave their job, it's going to be hard to find a new one," Berger said.

For now, the Fed appears to be OK with this state of affairs. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in a recent press conference that despite the slowing the labor market is "actually in solid condition."

"The US economy is in good shape," Powell said. "It's growing at a solid pace. Inflation is coming down. The labor market is in a strong place. We want to keep it there. That's what we're doing [by cutting interest rates]."

Read more: How does the labor market affect inflation?