Job Openings in U.S. Rise to Highest in More Than Five Years

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

By Shobhana Chandra - Jan 17, 2014

Job openings in the U.S. climbed in November to the highest level in more than five years, a sign the labor market was picking up before the pause in the final month of 2013.

The number of positions waiting to be filled increased by 70,000 to 4 million, the most since March 2008, from a revised 3.93 million in October, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. The pace of hiring was little changed, and more Americans quit their jobs.

A faster pace of hiring lays the ground for the income gains needed to spur consumer spending, which accounts for almost 70 percent of the economy. Data last week showed payrolls in December grew at the slowest pace since January 2011, indicating a temporary cooling in the job market that partly reflected bad weather.

“Employment is going to remain fairly strong going forward,” Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York, said before the report. “Employers will at least maintain the pace of hiring, and probably step it up a bit.”

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-17/job-openings-in-the-u-s-rise-to-highest-in-more-than-five-years.html

[TBF]

1. That's positive news -

now we need to work on raising the minimum wage.

[onehandle]

2. I've been seeing a lot more management positions listed.

In my experience, that's good news across the board.

Managers are hired to hire people to report to them.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

3. Good news.

But it sucks that so many of these companies won't invest money in good workers and train them. Don't complain about not being able to find skilled workers if you're not willing to help create skilled workers.

[Brigid]

4. When wages start going up . . .

Then I'll get excited.

Anybody else get the feeling TPTB dribble out just enough economic "good news" to keep the torches and pitchforks at bay?