Job growth in October was broad-based, with companies across the economy hiring at a quick pace. The health sector added 53,000 workers - even manufacturing, which has been bracing for a recession, added 32,000 jobs. Consumer spending is slowing and a strong dollar is driving US exports higher, leading to worries that job growth may not continue for much longer.
There have been some recent indicators that the labor market is still tight, even though politicians want it to be otherwise. The number of job openings in September increased from the previous month, going from 10.7m to 10.8m. That number means there are about 1.9 job openings for every unemployed person — a pretty good ratio! When employers start hiring again, they're more likely to do so by creating new positions than by laying people off or firing them.
As a consequence of the persistent lack of qualified applicants, hiring has become an increasingly difficult process for most businesses.
Alex Anderman, Vice President of Operations at FOMO Eats (which owns six fast-casual restaurants) in San Francisco and Las Vegas, said it has been so challenging to find workers that he started entering competitor businesses and offering a pay raise for any of their workers who want to come work for him.
For the last year, he's never stopped.
“The power is still on the side of the employees,” Anderman said. Other benefits have been added as well, including wage increases and higher prices. Occasionally, when an employee calls in sick, managers close stores early or call in temporary workers, and those workers are paid more.
To cope with the difficulties of hiring enough people to maintain the level of production he needs, his restaurant has recently started using a machine that cooks burgers covered in a patty at lightning speed. "It cooks them just right, every time," he said. "If people don't want these jobs, which they don't seem to want, then getting a robot is better."
Of course, slumps can happen for a variety of reasons. The construction industry added about 1,000 jobs in October, but this is much fewer than before the rates went up.