US employers post record high number of open jobs in August
Housing starts dip 5.3 pct in Sept
WASHINGTON, Oct 17, (Agencies): US employers posted the most jobs in two decades in August, and hiring also reached a record high, fresh evidence that companies are desperate to staff up amid solid economic growth.
Job openings rose a slight 0.8 percent to 7.14 million, the highest on records dating back to December 2000, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That is also far more than the 6.2 million of people who were unemployed that month.
The number of available jobs has swamped the number of unemployed for five straight months. Hiring has been solid, which has pushed down the unemployment rate to a nearly five-decade low of 3.7 percent. Strong demand for workers when so few are out of work may force more companies to raise pay in the coming months.
President Donald Trump celebrated the report on Twitter, tweeting: “Incredible number just out... Astonishing! It’s all working!” Trump added that the stock market was “up big” and referenced “Strong Profits.”
Yet so far, pay raises have been modest. Average hourly earnings rose 2.8 percent in September compared with a year earlier. That’s much higher than several years ago, but below the roughly 4 percent gain that is typical when unemployment is so low.
It’s a sharp turnaround from the Great Recession and its aftermath. In 2009, there were as many as six unemployed workers for each available job. Now, that number has fallen below one. Employers hired roughly 5.8 million people in August, the report showed. That is also the most on record, but that increase partly reflects population growth. The percentage of the workforce that found jobs in August ticked up to 3.9 percent from 3.8 percent in July. That matched an 11-year high first reached in May.
Job openings rose in August in professional and business services, which include mostly higher-paying positions in engineering, accounting and architecture, as well as temporary help. Postings in that category have jumped 27 percent from a year ago.
Construction firms are also desperate for workers, posting 298,000 open jobs. That’s nearly 39 percent more than a year ago. Job openings also increased in finance and insurance and health care.
Openings fell in August from the previous month in manufacturing, retail, and slipped slightly in hotels and restaurants.
In other news, Washington on Tuesday repealed a measure meant to increase the hourly minimum wage of tipped restaurant workers, a plan which residents of the American capital approved in a June ballot.
More than 55 percent of Washington voters said they were in favor of the Minimum Wage Amendment Act, or Initiative 77, which would require businesses to ultimately pay workers who rely on tips the same wage as everybody else.
The measure would have ended the city’s two-tier wage system and gradually pushed servers’ incomes to at least $15 per hour in subsequent years.
Employers of tipped workers are currently exempt from paying the standard minimum wage of $13.25 an hour in Washington, which has a thriving restaurant scene.
For tipped workers, the minimum is currently $3.89 an hour.
If employees don’t earn enough in tips to meet the minimum, employers are required to make up the difference.
Tipping is an American tradition which represents 15 to 20 percent of a customer’s bill.
Also:
WASHINGTON: US home construction fell 5.3 percent in September, a sign that rising mortgage rates may be weighing on the market.
The Commerce Department says that housing starts slipped last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.2 million, down from 1.27 million in August. So far this year, starts have increased 6.4 percent. But the pace of homebuilding has downshifted since May.
Homebuyers are facing new cost pressures that could be dampening demand.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says that the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped to 4.9 percent last week, the highest level since 2011. The combination of higher borrowing costs and rising home values has made home ownership less affordable.
Permits, an indicator of future activity, fell 0.6 percent to an annual rate of 1.24 million.