Labor market

From today's WSJ:

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The U.S. had more job openings this spring than unemployed Americans.

For the first time since such record-keeping began in 2000, the number of available positions exceeded the number of job seekers, the Labor Department said Tuesday, a shift that is rippling across the economy and affecting the behavior of employers and workers.

U.S. job openings rose to a seasonally adjusted 6.7 million at the end of April, a record high, and more than the 6.3 million Americans who were unemployed during the month. Openings had exceeded the available labor pool beginning in March, according to revised figures released Tuesday.

The figures are the latest sign the U.S. is facing a historically tight labor market. The jobless rate ticked down further in May to a seasonally adjusted 3.8%, the lowest since April 2000, the Labor Department said last week. The last time the rate was lower was in 1969, when young men were being drafted into the Vietnam War.

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Even the unemployable become employable.

Sad Dave but there's still of lot out there that you can't get off there butts and even look for a job.

Well, that should start a wage war and get inflation going good. Look out for everything that increases. Damn!

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Originally Posted by Mike

Well, that should start a wage war and get inflation going good. Look out for everything that increases. Damn!

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It will have less impact than you might think. While wages are rising, the increase is still moderate at about 2.8%. The shortage of applicants has been happening in manufacturing now for at least five years. The impact of this current condition is new only to the bottom of the economic (and wage) scale. Pushing up the wage at McDs by 3% has much less overall affect than pushing up manufacturing workers 3% with a current base of almost $22.00/hr.
That said, the old adage that rising water raise all ships still applies.

While this is not great for those on fixed income, it is a good thing (within limits) to the overall economy. The more people working the more money they have to spend and the more the economy can expand.

Just for giggles---our New York City carpenters are now over $100.00/hr.

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Originally Posted by Dave Grubb

It will have less impact than you might think. While wages are rising, the increase is still moderate at about 2.8%. The shortage of applicants has been happening in manufacturing now for at least five years. The impact of this current condition is new only to the bottom of the economic (and wage) scale. Pushing up the wage at McDs by 3% has much less overall affect than pushing up manufacturing workers 3% with a current base of almost $22.00/hr.
That said, the old adage that rising water raise all ships still applies.

While this is not great for those on fixed income, it is a good thing (within limits) to the overall economy. The more people working the more money they have to spend and the more the economy can expand.

Just for giggles---our New York City carpenters are now over $100.00/hr.

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Yeah well the rest of us don't live in New York and California's economies. We are lucky.