Job opportunities in the U.S. rose to a two-year high in Oct, according to the Labor Department. After last week’s Labor Department statement showed a fresh spike within the unemployment rate, career openings data was a breath of fresh air. However, economists say the job openings statement is preview of longer-term trends that could result in more hiring over the next few months.
Job opportunities report for October
From September, there was a 3 million increase in job opportunities in Oct to 3.4 million. The Labor Department’s Career Opportunities and Labor Turnover Survey showed the 12 percent month-to-month increase reversed declines within the 2 previous months. The Oct career opportunities number is extremely high for a recession. Since August 2008, when the financial industry was close to collapsing, the numbers have not been this high. In Oct, there was a rise of 369,000 private sector career openings. Since 2006, there hasn’t been anything that big. There were about 1 million more advertised career opportunities too accounts JOLTS. That’s a 44 percent increase from the low point arrived at in July 2009, a month after the recession technically ended.
People with no jobs nevertheless giving career opportunities a lot of applications
From October 2009, there was a 32 percent increase in job opportunities. The 14.8 million still unemployed hurts that number though. It’s really hard to get jobs nevertheless. The JOLTS report showed there were 4.4 individuals going after each Oct career opening. Even so, that number is improving from 4.9 people per career opening reported in Sept and is the best ratio since January 2009. The recession nevertheless hurt things. It can be hard to fix it up. It will likely be another five years before the joblessness rate goes back to the “normal” 5 to 6 percent, according to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke who was on the Columbia Broadcasting System News program “60 Minutes” Sunday.
Viewing a better career market
There might be a remote chance the career openings statement signals accelerated hiring that could shorten Bernanke’s estimate. There are economists who look at the JOLTS statement as an indicator of hiring up to three months down the road. Even though job creation in November fell short of the most conservative estimates, an economist at Credit Suisse in NY told reporters that last month’s dismal careers statement looks like “a bump in the road.”. The career industry might be getting out of limbo finally with the JOLTS report showing good signs.
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