Economics
U.S. Job Openings Unexpectedly Increase to a Five-Month High
- Vacancies rose to 6.65 million, beating estimates for decline
- Openings increase in business services and retail trade
This article is for subscribers only.
U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose in December, led by increases in business services and retail trade, signaling that companies were looking to add workers as the nation starts getting vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The number of available positions increased to 6.65 million during the month from a revised 6.57 million in November, the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed Tuesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists was for 6.4 million vacancies.