U.S. Factories Are Posting Job Openings Like Never Before

Job openings have surged at U.S. manufacturers of durable goods from machinery to cars in recent months, suggesting factories have plenty of demand despite recent tariff obstacles.

The job openings rate for the durable-goods manufacturing industry reached 4 percent in October, a record in data back to 2000, according to figures issued Monday by the Labor Department. That’s up from 3.7 percent in September and 3.1 percent a year earlier. Total openings were 332,000, compared with about 8 million jobs in the sector.

A separate report from the Association for Manufacturing Technology released Monday noted that machine-tool orders from August to October totaling $1.6 billion were the most in 20 years.

The job openings rate is the number of openings on the last business day of the month as a percent of total employment plus openings.