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On Wednesday, US Labor Department said employers around the US are looking to fill at least 11 million job openings. The vacancies show businesses continue to struggle and attract workers due to issues ranging from ongoing concerns about COVID-19, Delta, and Omicron variant. The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a statement that the number of unfilled jobs through the end of October is up from 10.4 million in the prior month. It represents the highest number of openings since July when businesses were looking to fill a record 11.1 million slots. The Labor Department said the ranks of Americans who are quitting their jobs also remained near record highs, while that has eased slightly. At least 4.2 million people quit in October, down from a record 4.4 million in the prior month.

Moreover, job vacancies increased as employers sought to beef up hiring for seasonal work, with retailers, restaurants, warehouses, and other companies looking for additional help during the key holiday season. But most companies are struggling to attract applicants and pushing them to boost wages and offer signing bonuses, with lower-wage workers like restaurant employees experiencing some of the biggest pay gains. An economist at Gusto, Luke Pardue said, “Although the quits rate came down, we’re near record high job openings that say employers are still having trouble attracting workers to their jobs. Employers aren’t able to replace the workers that are quitting reducing the number of jobs openings”. Pardue expects both the quits rate and level of jobs openings to remain high. Gusto’s data has indicated that 3.4% of workers quit their jobs in November, compared with 2.7% in the same period a year ago.

Pardue also said women are still quitting at a faster rate than men. At least 3.7% of women quit their jobs in November, compared to 3.1% of men. However, COVID-19 cases remain high in much of the nation and some schools continue to grapple with outbreaks and staff shortages, prompting some to cancel classes or switch to online schooling. Pardue added, “Two of three caregivers in this economy are women. Any uncertainty in a family’s childcare will be placed on women disproportionately, so they may have to take a step back to care for their families”. The chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds, David Kelly said, “So how did we get here? There are really three broad reasons: demographics, pandemic and policy effects on labor supply, and a surge in aggregate demand”.