U.S. job openings at record high

By Lucia Mutikami | WASHINGTON 

U.S. job openings surged to a record high in July, but a lag in hiring suggested employers were struggling to find qualified workers to fill the positions.


The monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, released by the Labor Department on Wednesday also pointed to tightening conditions in the labor market, which could spur faster wage growth.


JOLTS, is one of the job market metrics on Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's so-called dashboard. It was published ahead of the U.S. central bank's Sept. 20-21 policy meeting at which the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged.


"There are millions of jobs going begging right now in what has got to be one of the biggest mismatches between skills and lack of qualified help available in the nation's history," said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York. "The economy seems strong enough to weather a rate hike."


Job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased 228,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.9 million, the Labor Department said. That was the highest level since the series started in December 2000 and pushed the jobs openings rate up one-10th of a percentage point to 3.9 percent in July.


Hiring was little changed at 5.2 million in July, keeping the hiring rate steady at 3.6 percent for a second straight month. But hiring slowed in August, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by 151,000 jobs, a report showed last week. The economy added a total of 546,000 jobs in June and July.


Although Fed officials view the labor market as being at or near full employment, concerns about persistently low inflation have left the U.S. central bank cautious about raising interest rates in the near term.




Job openings were almost across the board. There were big increases in construction, retail, leisure and hospitality, as well as professional and business services.


In a sign of confidence in the labor market, 3.0 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs in July, keeping the quits rate at 2.1 percent for a second straight month. This rate has rebounded from a low of 1.3 percent in early 2010.




Layoffs were little changed at 1.6 million in July, holding the layoffs rate at a 3-1/2-year low of 1.1 percent. The ratio of job openings to unemployment hit a 15-year high.



"This suggest wages should be pressured higher and, therefore, either price increases will pick up or profit margins will be squeezed further," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York.Despite tightening labor market conditions, wage growth has been frustratingly slow.


Average hourly earnings have failed to hold above 2.5 percent on a year-over-year basis. Economists say a growth rate of between 3 and 3.5 percent in wages is needed to bring inflation near the Fed's 2 percent target.


(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Will Dunham)

Bishop Tutu to undergo surgery as infection persists

Picture: The former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu waits to receive the 2013 Templeton Prize at the Guildhall in central London on May 21, 2013. (Paul Hackett)


South African anti-apartheid hero Desmond Tutu will have surgery on Wednesday to relieve an infection that has confined him to hospital since last month, his family said.


Relatives did not give any more detail on his ailment, but said it was not related to the prostate cancer he has had for nearly 20 years.


The former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, who regularly criticized white-minority rule from his pulpit, was also hospitalized last year for treatment of an "inflammation".


"The Archbishop will undergo a small surgical procedure on Wednesday to address the root cause of the infections," the family said in a statement.


The 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has continued to respond well to treatment in the Cape Town hospital, the family added.


(Writing by TJ Strydom; Editing by James Macharia)

South Africa's ANC wants budget 're-prioritized' after vote losses

 

ByMfuneko Toyana  | JOHANNESBURG  

 

South Africa's ruling African National Congress wants the national budget "re-prioritized" to focus on tackling poverty, unemployment and inequality following local election defeats this month, the party said on Sunday.

The ANC lost its majority in key urban districts including Johannesburg, the municipality encompassing the capital Pretoria and the symbolically important Nelson Mandela Bay municipality - its biggest setbacks since coming to power in 1994 at the end of white-minority rule.


The ANC will take bold action to address the party's shortcomings, Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told reporters after a four-day meeting of the party's leadership in the National Executive Council (NEC).


Mantashe said the ANC wanted the cabinet to discuss changes to the budget at its next meeting.
"The NEC viewed the outcome of the elections as a clarion call of the people to the liberation movement to urgently take steps to speed up the programs of change, and rectify the many subjective weaknesses affecting its capacity," Mantashe said.


"It was noted that our poor performance in the 2016 local government elections is a serious setback to the cause of social transformation."


Mantashe also said the ANC took collective responsibility for the election results and would not lay the blame on President Jacob Zuma.


Opposition parties have said the election results were a referendum on Zuma's leadership and he should stand down.


"Should we blame one person for the performance for the ANC? All of us in the NEC must take responsibility," Mantashe said.


"There was no proposal from the floor for the president to step down," Mantashe said in response to a question about whether anyone in the ANC top council wanted Zuma to resign.


Zuma rattled investors in December last year by changing finance ministers twice in a week, sending the rand plummeting.


The president then survived an impeachment vote in April after the Constitutional Court said he had broken the law by ignoring an order to repay some of $16 million in state funds spent on renovating his private home. Zuma has since said he will repay some of the money, as ordered by the court.
Mantashe also said on Sunday there was a need to deal with perceptions that the ANC was soft on corruption, arrogant and self-serving.


(Writing by Joe Brock; editing by Mark Heinrich, Greg Mahlich)

Brilliant Wayde Van Niekerk smashes 400m world record

By Nick Mulvenney | RIO DE JANEIRO

 

 

South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk ran the fastest single lap in history to win the Olympic 400 meters gold medal in 43.03 seconds and break Michael Johnson's 17-year-old world record on Sunday.

Running an extraordinary race in lane eight, the 24-year-old world champion got off to a flier and was streaking clear on the back straight before upping his pace even further to better American Johnson's 1999 mark of 43.18 seconds.


"I believed I could get the world record," Van Niekerk told reporters. "I've dreamed of this medal since forever. I am blessed."


The South African flew across the line a good five meters ahead of 2012 champion Kirani James and held his hands to his head in disbelief before being embraced by the Grenadian, who took silver in 43.76.


"I'm happy to be part of a race that made history," James said. "We have put this sport on a pedestal."
LaShawn Merritt of the United States, the 2008 Olympic champion, claimed bronze in 43.85, the first time the top three had run under 44 seconds in the one-lap Olympic final.


"It was a crazy race, a great moment in history," said Merritt, who was unable to defend his title in London after suffering a hamstring injury in the heats.


"The world record was broken, the best man won."

American Johnson, who won back-to-back Olympic titles in the event in 1996 and 2000 and is considered one of the greatest sprinters of all time, was dumbfounded by the quality of Van Niekerk's finish.  

 "Oh my God! From lane eight, a world record," Johnson said on the BBC. "He took it out so quick. I have never seen anything from 200 to 400 like that."


Van Niekerk marked himself as the leading contender for Rio when he led home Merritt and James with an exceptional run to win gold at last year's world championships in Beijing, where the podium again all ran under 44 seconds.


This year, he became the first sprinter to run the 100 below 10 seconds, 200 under 20 seconds and 400 in less than 44 seconds before deciding to concentrate on the longest distance in Brazil.


(Editing by Ed Osmond)

Getting ready to go to Reha Klinikum Bad Rothenfelde.

Bremen | Korana X |

14.08.2016

Practices:

 

•  Pain Therapy
• Medical Training 
• Sport Therapy
• Diabetic Foot School
• Massage
• Swim-bath Movement
• and more

 The swimming-pool

 Bow shooting

The Reception

I  will be away from the Internet for some time and it is also good. I will however update you readers.

Thanks for your support over time, I truly appreciate it.

South Africa questions candidates to replace corruption official who vexed Zuma

South Africa's parliament on Thursday began interviewing candidates to replace Thuli Madonsela, the head of a corruption watchdog whose findings undermined support for President Jacob Zuma and his administration and worried investors.


Appointed by Zuma in 2009 for a seven-year, non-renewable term, Madonsela investigated several scandals involving Zuma which contributed to a sharp loss in support for the ruling party African National Congress in local elections last week.


Among the 14 candidates shortlisted to replace Madonsela in the role of Public Protector are two judges, several lawyers, as well as the current deputy national director of public prosecutions. All would were due to be questioned by lawmakers on Thursday.


The Public Protector has a constitutional mandate to probe misconduct and abuse in state affairs. It was not clear when a new candidate to replace Madonsela would be named but her term ends in October.


The scandals investigated by Madonsela have worried investors in Africa's most industrialized country, who feared it could lead to instability.


In one of her most high-impact investigations in 2014, Madonsela found Zuma had included in a $16 million "security upgrade" to his rural Nkandla home a raft of non-security items including a swimming pool and amphitheatre.


She said Zuma should pay back the cost of those items, and her view was supported in March by South Africa's highest court, which said Zuma had broken the law by ignoring Madonsela's order.
Zuma, who survived an impeachment vote in April after the court ruling, has since said he will repay some of the money, as ordered by the court.




Madonsela has said she is investigating whether Zuma allowed a wealthy business family, the Gupta family, to decide on cabinet appointments. Both Zuma and the Guptas have denied the accusations made by the opposition.


South Africa ranked 61st out of 168 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2015, which measures public sector corruption.


(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by James Macharia and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Official: No formal Secret Service discussions with Trump camp on remark

WASHINGTON | By Alana Wise  

A federal official on Wednesday said the U.S. Secret Service had not formally spoken with Republican Donald Trump's presidential campaign regarding his suggestion a day earlier that gun rights activists could stop Democratic rival Hillary Clinton from curtailing their access to firearms.
Following Trump's comment at a rally on Tuesday in which he suggested that gun rights activists could stop Clinton from appointing liberal anti-gun justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal official familiar with the matter told Reuters that there had been no formal conversations between the Secret Service and the Trump campaign.

Earlier CNN had reported that there had been multiple conversations between the campaign and the agency.


"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump told a North Carolina campaign rally on Tuesday. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know," he added, leading some critics to believe Trump was referring to gun violence against his rival.


The controversy came as the campaign tried to stay on message after a contentious previous week. Trump weathered criticism within his own party for delaying endorsements of fellow Republicans and for a prolonged clash with the family of a fallen Muslim American U.S. Army captain.


The campaign denied that inciting violence had been the intent of Tuesday's remark, and on Wednesday said there had been no conversations with the Secret Service about it.


"No such meeting or conversation ever happened," Trump wrote on Twitter, accusing CNN of having made up the report.


(Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)