Hiring | featured news

U.S. employers advertised more job openings in January, suggesting that hiring will remain healthy in coming months. Job openings rose 2.2 percent in January from December to 3.69 million, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Openings had fallen nearly 5 percent in December, and they remain below November's level of nearly 3.8 million.

Bob Benham’s Oklahoma City clothing store was so busy over the holiday shopping season he had to ask his sales staff to work extra hours to keep up with the pickup in foot traffic. But with business now softening again in the new year, he’s not convinced it’s time to start hiring more full time workers yet.

U.S. employers ramped up hiring in February, adding 236,000 jobs and pushing the unemployment rate down to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in January. Stronger hiring shows businesses are confident about the economy, despite higher taxes and government spending cuts.

These days, Busch, Slipakoff & Schuh, a law firm in Atlanta, hires only people with a bachelor’s degree — no exceptions. And it is far from alone.

Consumer sentiment improved in February, buoyed by signs of increased hiring, though worries heightened about a decline in future income, a survey released on Friday showed.

Private-sector employers shrugged off a looming budget crisis and stepped up hiring in December, offering further evidence of underlying strength in the economy as 2012 ended.

There is a dirty little secret about economics writing. The thing that offers the surest path to glory to front page play for a story, to lots of Web traffic, to a pat on the back from editors is doom and gloom. When we can point out something that is awful, whether it is a collapsing job market or rising poverty or skyrocketing gasoline prices, the world seems a whole lot more interested in what we have to say. It's not for nothing they call economics the dismal science.

Modest good news for college students: An annual survey predicts employers will increase hiring of new 4-year college graduates about 5 percent in the coming year. Demand for graduates with associate's degrees is expected to increase more sharply -- by about 30 percent compared to last year's survey-- while MBA hiring appears headed for an unexpected decline.

Nonfarm productivity increased at a modest pace in the third quarter, giving little sign that businesses are poised to ramp up hiring significantly.

Americans' confidence in the economy jumped this month to the highest level since February, bolstered by a brighter outlook for overall business conditions and hiring. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 70.3. That's up from 61.3 in August, which was revised higher. And it's the highest reading since February, when employers added 259,000 jobs and many thought the recovery was strengthening.