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Business Title: U.S. Job Openings Climbed in October, Pointing to Bigger Payroll Increases Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Job openings in the U.S. rose in October for the first time in three months, a sign gains in payrolls will accelerate in early 2011. The number of positions waiting to be filled increased by 351,000 to 3.36 million, the most since August 2008, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Excluding a drop among government agencies, the 369,000 increase in openings at companies was the biggest in four years. Combined with declining claims for jobless benefits and surveys showing hiring at manufactures and service providers is picking up, today’s report may help ease concern the labor market lost momentum in November. The government reported last week that the world’s largest economy created 39,000 jobs for the month, fewer than the most pessimistic forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The November payrolls report “looks like more of a bump in the road,” said Jonathan Basile, a senior economist at Credit Suisse in New York. Openings are “a positive force for what could eventually happen. It takes time to go from openings to hiring. It’s still going to be a slow process.” Stocks rallied today, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to the highest level since September 2008, on indications that President Barack Obama and Congress are reaching agreement on a plan to extend Bush-era tax cuts. The S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent to 1,229.85 at 11:39 a.m. in New York. More Equipment Spending Another report today showed manufacturers are more optimistic about sales next year and plan to ramp up spending on new equipment, signaling factories will keep leading the economic recovery. Purchasing managers at factories anticipate sales will grow 5.6 percent next year and business capital investment will jump 15 percent, the Tempe, Arizona-based Institute for Supply Management said in its semiannual forecast. Sales and spending will increase at a slower pace among service providers that account for about 90 percent of the economy. Job openings increased 12 percent in October from a revised 3.01 million in the prior month, the Labor Department report showed. The rate of available positions rose to 2.5 percent from 2.3 percent in September. Professional and business services, which include accountants, computer systems experts and temporary-help agencies, had the biggest increases in available employment, followed by education and health care. Openings dropped at construction firms and government agencies. Jobs per Unemployed Compared with the 14.8 million Americans who were unemployed in October, today’s figures indicate there were 4.4 people vying for every opening, up from about 1.8 when the recession began in December 2007. The number of jobless climbed to 15.1 million last month, pushing the unemployment rate up to a seven-month high of 9.8 percent, the Labor Department reported last week. Today’s report helps shed light on the dynamics behind the monthly employment figures. Private payrolls, which exclude government positions, rose by 50,000 workers in November, less than the most pessimistic forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, Labor Department figures showed on Dec. 3. Employers took on 4.2 million workers in October, down 12,000 from the previous month, according to today’s report. Total firings, which exclude retirements and those who left their jobs voluntarily, dropped to 1.72 million from 1.81 million a month before. 12-Month Gain In the 12 months ended in October, the economy created a net 700,000 jobs, representing about 50.8 million hires compared with about 50 million separations, today’s report showed. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has been among those saying the recovery has been too slow, keeping unemployment too high. “At the rate we’re going, it could be four, five years before we are back to a more normal unemployment rate” of about 5 percent to 6 percent, Bernanke said in an interview broadcast Dec. 5 by CBS Corp.’s “60 Minutes” program. Fed policy makers last month began buying Treasury securities as part of a plan to pump as much as $600 billion into the financial system through June. Should the economy not strengthen by then, the purchase of more bonds than planned is “certainly possible,” Bernanke said. The economy hasn’t grown to the point where demand can’t be met with current staff at Illinois Tool Works Inc., chief executive officer David Speer said in an interview on Dec. 3. Hiring Not ‘Significant’ Next year “there will be some modest level of improvement in employment in industrial manufacturing in the U.S.,” Speer said. “I don’t think anything significant for us, because I still see us with enough capacity in terms of labor right now to not have to make any significant additions.” ITW, the maker of Hobart food mixers and Duo-Fast nail guns, may do more hiring in 2012 if “we progress as I suspect we will,” Speer said. The company last week forecast business revenue, which doesn’t include sales from acquired companies, will increase 5 percent to 7 percent in 2011 over this year. Cuts among state and local governments may deepen as municipalities try to balance budgets. Florida, facing a $2.5 billion budget gap next year, may eliminate 5 percent of its state workforce to save costs, Governor-elect Rick Scott said in a Bloomberg television interview Dec. 3.
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