- Daniel Silver, economist at JP Morgan
The number of U.S. job openings remained near the highest level in 13 years in July, while hiring increased to the fastest pace in almost seven years, adding to further evidence that the job market is slowly recovering and showing companies in the U.S. will probably pick up the pace of hiring after last month's slowdown. The number of vacant positions declined slightly by 2,000 to 4.67 million in July, down from 4.68 million in the preceding month. The drop was caused by a drop in government job postings, whereas businesses advertised slightly more jobs. Total hiring, meanwhile, jumped 81,000 to 4.87 million, the highest since December 2007, when the Great Recession began. Still, that is below the pre-recession average of just over 5 million hires a month.
The data suggests the job market is still making progress, despite last week's unexpectedly disappointing employment figures. Although U.S. jobless rate declined to 6.1% from 6.2%, the report revealed that employers added 142,000 jobs in August, the fewest since December. Job openings have soared 22% in the past 12 months, a sign that employers are confident enough in the nation's economy to increase staffing. Net job gains have also increased strongly, with employers adding more than 200,000 jobs a month for six straight months through July, the best such stretch in eight years. However, overall hiring, has not risen as fast as openings. Hiring has been up just 8% in the past 12 months.
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