Job openings in U.S. were little changed in July at 4.67M

WASHINGTON – Job openings held close to a more than a 13-year high in July as employers remained confident about the outlook for demand in the world’s biggest economy.

The number of positions waiting to be filled in the U.S. was little changed at 4.67 million in July from 4.68 million in the month before, which was the highest since February 2001, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. Hiring increased.

Companies, whose headcounts were running lean after the last recession, are facing a growing need for workers as they contend with rising orders and sales. Persistent gains in payrolls raise the odds of a self-reinforcing cycle of more consumption and job growth that would further spur the economy.

“There are tangible signs of improvement in the overall condition of labor markets,” said Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Detroit. “Businesses are seeing acceleration in the demand for their goods and services and have been running with relatively tight labor force levels.”

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The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 4.7 million openings in July after a previously reported 4.67 million a month earlier.

Today’s so-called JOLTS survey showed the number of people hired increased to 4.87 million in July from 4.79 million a month earlier. The hiring rate held at 3.5 percent and compared with an average 3.8 percent during the previous expansion. The gauge calculates the number of hires during the month divided by the number of employees who worked or received pay during that period.

By industry

Job openings increased at retailers, business service companies and health-care providers.

The number of total dismissals, which excludes retirements and those who left their job voluntarily, rose to 4.56 million from 4.52 million in June.

Some 2.52 million people quit their jobs in July, up from 2.48 million the prior month. The quits rate, which shows the willingness of workers to leave their jobs, held at 1.8 percent in July, down from a 2 percent reading at the start of the recession at the end of 2007.

“The quits rate has picked up with improvements in the labor market over the past year, but it still remains somewhat depressed relative to its level before the recession,” Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said in an Aug. 22 speech at the Kansas City Fed’s economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Fed’s Yellen

Additionally, recent gains in the openings may portend stronger job growth as well, “but the failure of hiring to rise with vacancies could also indicate that firms perceive the prospects for economic growth as still insufficient to justify adding to payrolls,” Yellen said.

Today’s figures are among nine measures on her labor-market dashboard, which she uses to help guide monetary policy. Just three gauges — the job openings rate, payrolls and the pace of dismissals — have returned to where they were before the last recession, indicating there’s still slack in the job market. Fed policy makers begin a two-day meeting next week.

Workers such as Braden Drew have benefited from an improving labor market. He was tired of the inconsistent information technology work he was getting through his personal business, and hunkered down on his job search for a new position in June. After three months, the 28-year-old turned to Express Employment Professionals, a staffing agency, for help. Within three days, he had an offer.

“It was fantastic,” said Drew, who lives in Edmond, Oklahoma, and now works in IT for a medical products design company. “Every time I turn a corner I find another way that the job fits me perfectly. I have amazing coworkers and an awesome boss.”

Last year

In the 12 months ended July, the economy created a net 2.5 million jobs, representing 56 million hires and 53.5 million separations, today’s report showed.

Considering the 9.7 million Americans who were unemployed in July, today’s figures indicate there are about 2.1 people vying for every opening, up from about 1.8 when the last recession began in December 2007.

Companies added 142,000 workers to payrolls in August, after a six-month hiring burst that had put more than 1.4 million Americans to work, data from the Labor Department showed. The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent in July as people left the work force.

Fed officials are watching the labor market as they near an end their bond-buying program and start considering the timing of the first interest-rate increase since 2006. Policy makers in July tapered monthly bond-buying to $25 billion in their sixth consecutive $10 billion cut, staying on pace to end the purchase program in October. The Fed’s next meeting concludes Sept. 17.

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