WASHINGTON: US job openings rose to their highest level in more than 13 years in August even as hiring fell, the US Department of Labour said.
Job openings were at a seasonally adjusted 4.835 million compared with a downwardly revised 4.605 million in July, the department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey yesterday. Job openings are used to measure labour demand.
Federal Reserve policymakers have said they are monitoring the JOLTS report as they consider their next step on monetary policy.
Employers hired a seasonally adjusted 4.640 million people in August, down from 4.934 million in July, the report said. August’s hiring was 27 percent higher than in June 2009 when it was at its lowest level since the beginning of the recession.
At 1.8 percent, the quits rate has held steady for seven consecutive months. That rate measures the number of people who leave their jobs voluntarily and is an indication of how confident employees are that they can find a better job elsewhere.
A separate Labour Department report released on Friday showed the labour market picking up as US employers added 248,000 jobs in September, and the national unemployment rate slid to 5.9 percent, its lowest level in six years. Reuters
