Jobs Go Begging

Ever shifting and complex, the U.S. economy cannot precisely match people and jobs even in the best of times, let alone now when sluggishness and slowdown have reduced overall employer demand for workers. This predicament shows up clearly in Labor Department statistics. In October, for example, 110,000 jobs went unfilled, even while the unemployment rate rose.

Nearly all the openings were for blue-collar and clerical employees, those tracked most consistently by the Labor Department, using figures supplied by employment offices in all 50 states. Thus the Government's figures exclude many white-collar professional jobs that are not listed with such offices, and the number of open jobs is actually higher than reported.

About 67,000 of the openings were in clerical and sales positions, and 49,000 were in the service sector. In greatest demand were auto mechanics, clerk typists, restaurant cooks, materials handlers, secretaries and waitresses. The job openings knew no geographic bounds; employment in those fields was generally available throughout the U.S.

In October, 643 arc welder's jobs paying $4.11 to $9.88 an hour went unfilled, as did 315 jobs for electronics technicians, 1,279 openings for insurance sales agents and 532 slots for machinists at $4.16 to $9.80 an hour.

The upstate New York city of Binghamton showed a 25% increase in available jobs because defense-related industries in the area have won new Government contracts, while the thriving Texas cities of Fort Worth, Longview and Midland had 15% increases because of greater petroleum activity and a construction boom. Even depressed Detroit, burdened with an estimated 112,000 laid-off auto workers, had openings for practical nurses, receptionists, security guards, machinists and production assemblers. Jobs for construction workers were mainly available in such Sunbelt cities as Phoenix, Greenville, N.C., Houston and Tampa.

The American economy in the late 1980s is expected to have even more severe problems of worker shortages in some key industries. A Labor Department study shows that while the U.S. will need far fewer shoe repairmen, gas station operators and postal clerks by 1990, it will be looking for increased numbers of computer programmers, computer systems analysts and home health aides.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.