U.S. Employers Advertise Most Jobs In 17 Years
Saturday, March 17th, 2018 -- 7:31 AM
U.S. employers sharply ramped up their demand for workers in January, advertising 6.3 million jobs at the end of the month, the most on records dating back 17 years.According to the Associated Press, the number of job opening soared 645,000 in January, the Labor Department said Friday, the largest one-month increase in 2½ years. The number of people hired ticked up and fewer Americans quit in January compared with the previous month. The huge demand for workers comes as the unemployment rate is already at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent. The report shows that overall hiring increased by a much smaller amount than job openings, suggesting that employers are having difficulty finding the workers they need. That may raise pressure on companies to increase pay in the coming months to attract more applicants.
The data could fuel debates about whether a "skills gap" has made it harder for companies to fill open positions. Business groups argue that many jobs, particularly in manufacturing, administrative work, and information technology, require greater or different skill sets than in the past, and not enough workers have them.
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