US companies posted record number of open jobs in April
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers in April advertised the most open jobs in 16 years, yet hiring fell and fewer people quit work. The figures suggest that businesses are struggling to find qualified employees as the unemployment rate declines.
Job openings rose 4.5 per cent in April to more than 6 million, the Labor Department said Tuesday, the most since December 2000, when the government first began tracking the data. Meanwhile, hiring fell 4.8 per cent to just over 5 million.
The report is a sign the economy is nearing or already at “full employment,” when most of those who want a job have one and the unemployment rate mostly reflects the churn of people who are temporarily out of work. Typically, when unemployment falls that low, companies are forced to offer more pay, but that hasn’t yet happened.
On Friday, the government reported that average hourly pay rose just 2.5 per cent in May from a year earlier. That’s improved a bit from several years ago, but is still below the pre-recession pace of about 4 per cent.