U.S. Job Openings May Presage Hiring Gains in Second Half of Year: Economy

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

Job openings in the U.S. rose in June to the highest level in four years, indicating employment gains may accelerate in the second half of the year.

The number of positions waiting to be filled climbed by 105,000 to 3.76 million, the most since July 2008, from a revised 3.66 million the prior month, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Hiring and firings cooled.

A rising need for workers shows some employers are expanding as sales improve, laying the ground for a pickup in hiring that may help boost consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. Payrolls rose more than forecast in July even as the unemployment rate climbed to a five-month high, the Labor Department reported last week.

“The economy is still growing, that’s underpinning labor demand,” said Henry Mo, a senior economist at Credit Suisse in New York. “Job availability is increasing, but we still need to see employers put this into action. The economy will grow a little better in the second half than in the first half and the labor market will improve gradually.”

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-07/job-openings-in-the-u-s-increased-in-june-hiring-dropped.html

[woo me with science]

1. More firings, fewer quits.

This sort of reporting also needs more careful attention to salaries and benefits, because there is a restructuring going on.

[Rabid_Rabbit]

2. Also it is a waiting game

Employers offering crappy pay because sooner or later somebody desperate will take the job

[earthside]

3. Even if true, doesn't mean we're in recovery.

Wages aren’t stagnating, they’re plummeting

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/31/wages-arent-stagnating-theyre-plummeting/

Add in the rising rate of inflation, especially in food, and also increases in tuition, school fees, health care premiums, etc, ... and it is clear that we are still falling behind.