gzsg

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers posted the most jobs in two decades in August, and hiring also reached a record high, fresh evidence that companies are desperate to staff up amid solid economic growth.

Job openings rose a slight 0.8 percent to 7.14 million, the highest on records dating back to December 2000, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That is also far more than the 6.2 million of people who were unemployed that month.

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The number of available jobs has swamped the number of unemployed for five straight months. Hiring has been solid, which has pushed down the unemployment rate to a nearly five-decade low of 3.7 percent. Strong demand for workers when so few are out of work may force more companies to raise pay in the coming months.

President Donald Trump celebrated the report on Twitter, tweeting: "Incredible number just out... Astonishing! It's all working!" Trump added that the stock market was "up big" and referenced "Strong Profits."

Yet so far, pay raises have been modest. Average hourly earnings rose 2.8 percent in September compared with a year earlier. That's much higher than several years ago, but below the roughly 4 percent gain that is typical when unemployment is so low.

It's a sharp turnaround from the Great Recession and its aftermath. In 2009, there were as many as six unemployed workers for each available job. Now, that number has fallen below one.

Employers hired roughly 5.8 million people in August, the report showed. That is also the most on record, but that increase partly reflects population growth. The percentage of the workforce that found jobs in August ticked up to 3.9 percent from 3.8 percent in July. That matched an 11-year high first reached in May.

Job openings rose in August in professional and business services, which include mostly higher-paying positions in engineering, accounting and architecture, as well as temporary help. Postings in that category have jumped 27 percent from a year ago.

Construction firms are also desperate for workers, posting 298,000 open jobs. That's nearly 39 percent more than a year ago. Job openings also increased in finance and insurance and health care.

Openings fell in August from the previous month in manufacturing, retail, and slipped slightly in hotels and restaurants.

gzsg

Not a political post.

A post to how strong our position is going into C2019.

gzsg

Drivers' salaries are seeing "unprecedented" jumps, Gordon Klemp, principal of the National Transportation Institute, said. But analysts say the increases aren't enough to make up for the drop in drivers' real wages since the 1970s and '80s. According to a Business Insider analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, truckers' hourly pay, when adjusted for inflation, has dropped by as much as 35% in some places.

"Wages are so far below what they need to be that we're having issues finding drivers," David Ross, managing director of the St. Louis business bank Stifel, told Business Insider.

Al Czervik

Awesome....

JamesBond

I have a cousin that works in the trucking industry. (management) She has been saying for years that there is a shortage.

gzsg

There is going to be some serious inflation and we need to be sure our raises reflect that.

Han Solo

This is a misnomer, sounds like typical management BS. My father has been a driver for over 50 years. Illegal aliens have obliterated the wages a truck driver can earn for honest work. There's no shortage of truck drivers, there's a shortage of truck driver pay.

WesternSkies

There was a trucker shortage in 2007 too. Hmmm

Rooster435

No doubt there are millions of illegal immigrants working in the US but they aren’t commercial truck drivers. You have to be a US citizen or lawful resident to get a CDL.

Han Solo

You should see the garbage Hoffa just jammed down the UPS teamsters throats. He makes Donatelli look like man of the year+++, no exaggeration. Hoffa opened the concession shop and then advocated an atrocious b-scale. 54% of all ballots were against their new contract but the teamsters have a little gem in there that says if 50% of the eligible participants don't vote then it takes 2/3s to reject any contract -- their most recent vote only had 44% participating. And UPS is probably one of the better places to drive.