Threats of recession in the United States and across Europe are gathering force amid festering inflation and rapidly rising interest rates, developments that already tapered oil consumption and could impact commercial and industrial natural gas demand.

The latest indicator: The U.S. Labor Department on Friday reported the job market remains tight but hiring is slowing. Employers added 263,000 jobs in September. That was down from 315,000 in August and marked a second-consecutive monthly decline.

Major employers such as FedEx have announced hiring freezes and others, including Amazon, said they were slowing the growth of their workforces this fall to rein in spending and curb debt as borrowing costs surge following multiple Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. The Fed’s...