Briefcase

Companies struggle to find workers

Vacancies at U.S. employers unexpectedly surged in April to the highest in three months, giving the Federal Reserve more reason to consider increasing interest rates again soon.

The number of available positions increased to 10.1 million from an upwardly revised 9.75 million in March, the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed Wednesday. The figure beat all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists, which called for 9.4 million openings.

Market expectations for a rate hike in June recovered to price in a more than 70% probability following the report, after earlier taking a slight knock following a worse-than-forecast Chicago PMI reading. The yield on the two-year Treasury initially spiked and the S&P 500 fell further.

The advance was led by retail trade, health care and transportation and warehousing. Openings fell in accommodation and food services, business services and manufacturing. At the same time, hiring edged up.

Demand for labor has remained largely resilient even though tighter financial conditions have forced some employers to hit the brakes on hiring. While job cuts that began in white-collar sectors including technology and banking are starting to spread to other industries, some companies are still struggling to find workers.

Walmart boosts pharmacists’ wages

BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, said Wednesday that it was increasing the wages for 7,700 of its pharmacists and opticians, as it expands its health business and seeks to retain the workers in a competitive environment.

The retailer said the raise would push the average annual salary of the more than 3,700 pharmacists affected to more than $140,000. Walmart declined to share the current salary rate, saying it was based on location and role.

It said the opticians could now “expect” to make an average hourly wage of more than $22.50. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean annual wage for a pharmacist in the United States is $129,410 and the mean hourly wage for opticians is $21.58.

Walmart employs 16,000 pharmacists and 12,000 opticians overall.

App Store’s value increases

Apple, touting the value of its App Store just ahead of the company’s developer expo, said the platform handled transactions worth $1.1 trillion last year, up 29% from 2021.

A study from Analysis Group that was commissioned by Apple found that annual sales and billings – which include money from apps and subscriptions, in-app advertising and physical goods or services – climbed more than 80% on the App Store since 2019. The latest annual increase was an uptick from growth of 27% in 2021 and 2020.

Apple is facing criticism that it wields too much power over the App Store by putting restrictions on developers and charging them a commission of as much as 30%. In citing the report, the iPhone maker is looking to address those concerns by showing how much money it’s making for developers. The company said that 90% of the $1.1 trillion went entirely to businesses rather than commissions to Apple.

From wire reports