Job-openings rate rises to second-highest on record
Job openings climbed in December to the second-highest level on record, a sign demand for labor remains strong.
The number of positions waiting to be filled rose by 261,000 to 5.61 million from a revised 5.35 million in November, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. The reading was just behind the 5.67 million reached in July that was the highest since data began in 2000. Construction companies and manufacturers were among employers looking to boost staff, and more people had the confidence to quit their jobs.
The labor market remains a bright spot for the economy, a sign businesses may be looking past soft global growth in anticipation of a pickup in demand in the months ahead. Continued hiring will be needed to help solidify an acceleration in wages — which have been stagnant for much of the recovery — and provide a lift to consumer spending.
“Job openings tend to be leading, so if you’re a business and you’re worried, you’re not going to post a job,” said Neil Dutta, head of U.S. economics at Renais- sance Macro Research in New York. The quits rate “reflects worker optimism. Workers see the labor market as strong enough that they can quit their job in search of a new and, presumably, betterpaying one.”
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, adds context to monthly payrolls data by measuring dynamics such as resignations, help-wanted ads and the pace of hiring. Although it lags the Labor Department’s other jobs figures by a month, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen follows the report as a measure of labor-market tightness and worker confidence.
The report showed the job-openings rate at construction companies in December was the highest since February 2007, while in manufacturing it rose to a record, propelled by demand among non-durable goods industries.
Some 3.06 million people quit their jobs in December, up from the prior month’s 2.86 million. The quits rate, which shows the willingness of workers to leave their jobs, rose to 2.1 percent, the highest since April 2008. It was at 2 percent when the 18-month recession started in December 2007.