December job openings in U.S. leap to record 7.3M
Despite challenges facing economy, businesses kept on hiring
boosted hiring in December, while the number of people who quit remained unchanged at 3.5 million — a sign of a dynamic job market, as most people quit to take a new job.
The number of unemployed typically runs far ahead of job openings, but that switched last year. That could mean potentially stronger wage gains are in store in the months ahead. With job postings so high at a time that the unemployment rate is at a low 4 percent, businesses may be forced to pay more to attract the workers they need.
Average hourly pay rose 3.2 percent in January from a year ago, the government said earlier this month. two months and kept on hiring. The 35-day partial government shutdown began Dec. 22, and growth in China, Europe and Japan has weakened, threatening U.S. exports. Still, employers added 304,000 jobs in January, the government said earlier this month, the most in nearly a year.
The jump in openings in December suggests hiring will likely remain robust. Openings are typically filled within 1 to 2 months. The surge in available jobs indicates that businesses expect demand to remain healthy and that they will need more employees to meet it.
Tuesday’s data also showed that employers
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers posted the most open jobs in December in the nearly two decades that records have been kept, evidence that the job market is strong despite several challenges facing the economy.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that job openings jumped 2.4 percent in December to 7.3 million. That is the most since records began in December 2000. It is also far greater than the number of unemployed, which stood at 6.3 million that month.
Businesses have shrugged off a variety of potential troubles for the economy in the past