The data also show that people are also leaving work at a record pace.
The number of job vacancies reached a record high of 10.9 million on the last day of July, the Labor Department said on Wednesday, as companies struggle to attract workers in the wake of the COVID-19 economy shock.
The latest number of job offers exceeds the record high of 10.1 million that was just set in the month before June, but may not yet reflect the impact of the extension of the delta variant on the labor market. However, the new data show a complicated picture of the economic recovery as job offers soar despite unemployment levels remaining high.
Job offers increased throughout the economy, with large increases in health and social care, finance and insurance, as well as accommodation and food services, the DOL said.
In addition to reaching a maximum of job offers, the number of people leaving work is also at record levels. The dropout rate in July was 2.7%, the BLS said on Wednesday, tying with the months of June and April 2021, the highest recorded.
Economists have attributed the recent labor crisis to persistent health problems caused by the virus that some workers may not want to return to work, a childcare crisis that has disproportionately affected working women, as well as more difficult factors to quantify. like many Americans. reevaluate what they want from a job after experiencing a pandemic once a century that has left more than 600,000 Americans dead.
The unemployment rate in August was 5.2%, a reflection of the significant improvements in the labor market compared to before the introduction of the vaccine, but still above 3.5% before the February 2020 pandemic. Break down even further, employment has increased by about 17 million jobs since April 2020, but the economy continues to fall by about 5.3 million jobs compared to February 2020 .
While the unemployment rate remains high, many companies have reported problems hiring staff, which has led to rising average wages, especially among service industries or jobs that require face-to-face contact. The average hourly wage for workers in August was about $ 30.73.
The latest DOL data also comes as improved pandemic-era unemployment benefits have expired this week for millions of Americans. Despite the rhetoric of many Republican lawmakers, however, the data indicate that pandemic unemployment benefits, as a handful of states have already done, did not contribute to employment growth. JPMorgan researchers found a “zero correlation” between employment growth and state decisions to withdraw federal unemployment benefits, the Associated Press reported.