The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a record 9.3 million job openings available at the end of April. It’s the highest number recorded since the government started collecting the data in 2000 and one more sign that economic recovery is gaining momentum. It’s mostly good news, but it’s also creating challenges as many workers are reporting difficulty finding enough workers.
The Employment Security Department announced this week that it will reinstate the job-search requirement for those receiving unemployment benefits beginning early next month. That should help bring more people back into the labor market and provide some easing of the labor shortage, although it’s not a complete solution. As we noted on our blog last week, there are multiple factors at play and we need to address both short-term solutions and long-term solutions like workforce development.
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