Job openings at 18-year high
If you’re looking for a job right now, this may be about as good as it gets: There are roughly as many open jobs in the United States as there are unemployed people.
In March, employers advertised 6.55 million open jobs, the most on record dating to December 2000, the Labor Department said Tuesday. At the same time, there were 6.59 million unemployed people.
That’s a historical anomaly. Typically, there are far more unemployed people than advertised job openings – often twice as many. And back in July 2009, just after the Great Recession, there were 6.7 unemployed people, on average, for each open job. With that ratio now at essentially 1 to 1, the job market appears to be tilting in favor of workers and job-seekers rather than employers.
“Employers beware,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Bank. “Wages have nowhere to go but up; it’s just a matter of time.”
Covenant Transport pays team bonuses
Covenant Transport handed out $88,000 in its new team bonus program last month to 44 teams that eclipsed the 60,000 miles together to earn the company’s new $2,000-per-team bonus.
Covenant’s team driver bonus plan was unveiled in February and provides up to $40,000 a year in bonuses to driver teams that complete enough miles. Hundreds of other drivers are on pace to receive bonuses this month, Covenant officials said.
Rob Hatchett, vice president of recruiting, said the teaming bonus program is designed to reward new and existing team drivers, and prove Covenant is the premier employer of team drivers.
“We specialize in teams, and we created this program to not only cement our place as the leading team carrier in the country, but also to prove to our people that we value them and want them here,” Hatchett said.
Covenant President Joey Hogan said the teaming bonus is aimed at rewarding those driving the success of the company.
The American Trucking Association estimates there is a nationwide shortage of 60,000 drivers and, if present trends continue, that shortage could grow to 175,000 drivers by 2026.
TVA completes Sequoyah refueling
Power generation resumed Tuesday at the Unit 1 reactor at the Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant after work crews completed more than 14,000 maintenance and repair items and refueled the 37-year-old unit at the Soddy-Daisy plant.
The Tennessee Valley Authority said plant operators are returning the Sequoyah unit to its full capacity, generating enough power for 650,000 homes.
In addition to replacing 81 of the unit’s 193 fuel assemblies, TVA confirmed all components continue to meet or exceed all design requirements, according to Sequoyah Vice President Tony Williams.
“The entire Sequoyah team, supported by more than 1,000 supplemental contract workers, completed approximately 14,100 activities during the outage,” he said.
Sequoyah Unit 1 is one of seven operational TVA nuclear reactors across the Valley, supplying nearly 40 percent of all electricity used by more than 9 million people.
Governor vetoes cybercrime bill
Georgia’s governor has vetoed a bill that would have criminalized unauthorized computer access after receiving blowback from the state’s booming cybersecurity industry.
The bill, vetoed by Republican Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday, would have made it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail to intentionally access a computer or network without authorization. The proposal passed the Georgia legislature in March amid the final chaotic hours of the legislative session.
The bill was designed to give law enforcement the ability to prosecute “online snoopers” – hackers who probe computer systems for vulnerabilities but don’t disrupt or steal data. It follows the recent discovery by unauthorized independent cybersecurity experts of a vulnerability in the computer network where Georgia’s elections are managed.
But a group of more than 50 academics, researchers, cybersecurity experts and technologists wrote Deal recently urging him to veto the bill, saying the legislation would chill security research and harm the state’s cybersecurity industry.
The group said that, as a result of the bill, “security vulnerabilities in important computer systems will not be uncovered and disclosed responsibly, which will only make it easier for bad actors to exploit them.” They said that the bill was problematic because it created new criminal liabilities for security researchers who identify and disclose weaknesses to improve cybersecurity.