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The U.S. continues to have more than 10 million job openings, or at least that’s what the Bureau of Labor Statistics data for the month of August indicates, reporting that although job openings were down 10%, they continue to outnumber the country’s unemployed population of around 6 million people.
According to the Department of Labor, job openings fell from 11 million in July to 10.1 million in August.
Job openings fell mainly in the healthcare, retail and other service industries.
Interestingly, the quit rate also remains high, and Americans continue to change jobs easily and quickly despite the economic situation.
Technically, the U.S. is in the grips of a recession, having completed two continuous quarters of negative growth, however, the National Bureau of Economic Research – the agency in charge of determining whether the country has actually entered a recession – has not issued a statement on the matter.
Meanwhile, the Fed continues to raise interest rates to control inflation, which has surpassed 40-year highs. Although some prices have started to moderate as a result of declining demand, the labor market continues to be buoyant, but showing slight signs of deceleration.
Some companies, such as Goldman Sachs Group or Stanley Black & Decker, have begun to lay off workers or leave open positions unoccupied to avoid additional costs due to economic uncertainty.
Other companies such as Walmart, although they continue to hire, make it clear that most of the new hires will only be temporary to help during the holidays.
Other companies have found it impossible to keep workers to fill the positions. Several companies have opted to raise salaries to make jobs more attractive, while others have chosen to increase job benefits or increase flexibility in some schedules.
Some U.S. companies have increased workers’ pay by as much as $6 over the past year in order to retain their staff’s loyalty to the company.
On the other hand, the number of people filing for unemployment assistance is at its lowest number in five months. Although during the month of July there was a peak of up to 243,000 weekly unemployment applications, by September the number has dropped to less than 193,000.
Although the U.S. economy is entering a cooling process, the job market remains hot and at the moment Americans have plenty of openings to choose from for an ideal job.
Economist, writer and liberal. With a focus on finance, the war on drugs, history, and geopolitics // Economista, escritor y liberal. Con enfoque en finanzas, guerra contra las drogas, historia y geopolítica