S&P 500
7,226.20
+0.01%
Dow Jones
49,494.60
-0.62%
Nasdaq 100
27,685.40
+0.66%
Russell 2000
2,804.78
-0.02%
FTSE 100
10,364.50
0.00%
Nikkei 225
59,260.50
-0.78%

Economy

Job Openings Jump Higher, But Hiring May Not

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

In what could be a positive bit of jobs news, job openings rose to three million in July. Whether those jobs are filled quickly is another matter entirely.

The job openings rate increased over the month to 2.3 percent. The hires rate (3.3 percent) and the separations rate (3.4 percent) were unchanged, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The BLS added, “Even with the gains since July 2009, the number of job openings remained below the 4.4 million open jobs when the recession began in December 2007.”

The glass may be half empty. The current level of job openings may be too low to have any significant effect in bringing down the unemployment rate of 9.6%. The three million openings are only valuable to the extent to which they get filled, and, despite what many economists say, there is no way to predict that future.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Continue Reading

Paul Ausick |

Small Business Owners’ Confidence Plunges

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported that its small business optimism index fell 3 points in June to…
Small Business Optimism Dips in August
Paul Ausick |

Small Business Optimism Dips in August

The National Federation of Independent Business has reported that its small business optimism index for August remains well below the…
Over 6.1 Million US Job Openings Up for Grabs
Jon C. Ogg |

Over 6.1 Million US Job Openings Up for Grabs

Whether or not you are a fan of the economic policies of today, one trend that has prevailed is that…
Paul Ausick |

September Small Business Optimism Improves a Little

The National Federation of Independent Business on Tuesday morning reported that its small business optimism index for September rose slightly.
How to Fill the 7.35 Million Job Openings in America
Jon C. Ogg |

How to Fill the 7.35 Million Job Openings in America

After last week’s unemployment and payrolls report for July, the U.S. Department of Labor has released its monthly Job Openings…
Are There Just Too Many Job Openings?
Jon C. Ogg |

Are There Just Too Many Job Openings?

How crazy it must sound to hear that there are just too many job openings in this strong economy.
September Small Business Optimism About Economy Dives Below 10%
Paul Ausick |

September Small Business Optimism About Economy Dives Below 10%

Small business optimism slips again but remains generally positive as well as uncertain.
Paul Ausick |

Small Business Optimism Rises Near 7-Year High

The NFIB reported Tuesday morning that its small business optimism index for August rose to its second-highest reading since October…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Job Openings Rise To 3.4 Million In December

The number of open jobs is the US rose to 3.4 million, in December, according to the BLS. The figure…

Top Gaining Stocks

Cboe Global Markets
CBOE • Vol: 1,568,143
New Pluto Global
PSKY • Vol: 12,285,993
Seagate Technology
STX • Vol: 7,378,346
Oracle
ORCL • Vol: 26,317,675
Datadog
DDOG • Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ • Vol: 4,367,433
Clorox
CLX • Vol: 13,260,523
Stryker
SYK • Vol: 4,519,455
Mohawk Industries
MHK • Vol: 1,859,865
Amgen
AMGN • Vol: 3,818,618