Job Openings Slow After Strong Summer
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, October 7th. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. The strength of the labor market is far from where it was before the pandemic, but over the summer, it showed signs of recovery when employers ramped up hiring.
What caused job openings to fall in September after summer gains?
Now that hiring spree is losing steam.
And so given just all of the uncertainty that a lot of businesses have right now, many of these companies are probably just holding off to see, you know, whether the economy is going to more quickly improve.
Our economics reporter Sarah Cheney will explain which types of businesses are hiring and whether higher-paying jobs are likely to return anytime soon. That's after the break.
Over the summer, the number of job openings was gaining 5 to 7 percent a month. But in September, they fell by 0.3 percent, according to Glassdoor.
How did the summer hiring surge compare to the September decline?
Our economics reporter, Sarah Cheney, has been going through the numbers, and she's here to discuss her findings. Sarah, thanks for being here.
Thanks so much for having me, JR.
So, you know, it seems like the hiring market has jammed on the brakes. What's behind the slowdown?
For one, you have the fact that there was an initial hiring spurt in late spring and early summer when many businesses that had been under complete lockdown were allowed to reopen.
Which industries have recovered hiring fastest and why are medical and dental offices rebounding?
Since then, though, states have been lifting restrictions on businesses at a slower pace. And so naturally you'll have less hiring.
Why are higher‑paying sectors showing slower job‑opening recoveries than lower‑wage sectors?
And then another reason is just that a lot of employers at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis were holding on to workers thinking, you know, maybe things will get better. But at this point they're seeing, hey, we're just not getting the revenues that we thought we would be getting.
Which data sources and measures explain the jobs numbers like Glassdoor listings?
And so they're having to lay off workers. One of the main measures in that report is job openings. So just think, if you're an unemployed person looking for a job and you go on a website like Glassdoor or Indeed, you're going to see a job opening. So it's measuring basically that. And it showed that there were 6.5 million available jobs at the end of August. And, you know, if you put that in context, there are, in August, there were also about 13.6 million unemployed people. So there are a lot fewer job openings than there are jobless people, making it more difficult for people to quickly find work.
How does consumer demand and the public‑health outlook affect employers' hiring plans?
Now, we've read lots of reports about the restaurant and retail sectors not doing well, but some sectors are actually doing better than others.
At the beginning of the crisis, we saw that a lot of medical offices think your local dentists had to shut down. But when they were allowed to reopen, a lot of them did. And people had kind of deferred their visits to the dental office, and they're now able to go. And there are new safety measures in place that probably help with consumer confidence.
Now, what do the job opening numbers tell us about higher paying jobs?
We have seen that employment in high wage positions has fared better than lower wage positions throughout the crisis. But in terms of job openings, the reverse has occurred. So high wage sectors have seen a slower recovery from their lows hit during the pandemic than lower wage sectors have. And one reason that an economist from Jobsite indeed pointed to for this trend is just the fact that it costs more to hire and onboard higher wage workers. And then also companies in these higher wage sectors oftentimes make their hiring decisions based on longer term outlooks. And so given just all of the uncertainty that a lot of businesses have right now, many of these companies are probably just holding off to see, you know, whether the economy is going to more quickly improve.
So sectors like technology and finance, these higher wage sectors have been taking more of a wait and see approach to hiring. And that is one reason that the recovery and job openings in larger cities has been slower than the rebound in smaller metro areas.
And for much of the business world, their hiring outlook is tied to consumers' ability to spend.
So consumer demand for products is pretty key for a business to bring in revenues and then have that money to spend to employ workers.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:18
2
What caused job openings to fall in September after summer gains?
0:18–1:00
3
How did the summer hiring surge compare to the September decline?
1:00–1:29
4
Which industries have recovered hiring fastest and why are medical and dental offices rebounding?
1:29–1:38
5
Why are higher‑paying sectors showing slower job‑opening recoveries than lower‑wage sectors?
1:38–1:55
6
Which data sources and measures explain the jobs numbers like Glassdoor listings?
1:55–2:39
7
How does consumer demand and the public‑health outlook affect employers' hiring plans?
2:39–5:38
Speakers
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