Job Openings Unexpectedly Surge But 1/3 Are Government Work Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

U.S. job openings unexpectedly jumped in August, the first increase in three months, boosted by a rise in postings for government, construction, and work in shipping and warehouses.

The number of vacant jobs in the U.S. rose to eight million as of the final business day in August, up from the three-and-a-half year low of 7.7 hit in July, the Labor Department said Tuesday in its monthly report on the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey or JOLTS.

The rise of 329,000 openings was not expected. Economists had forecast openings to come in right around where they were the previous month, consistent with the view of the Federal Reserve that demand for labor is softening.

Government jobs accounted for 103,000 of the increase. Federal postings fell by 3,000 but this was more than offset by a 106,000 rise in state and local jobs. Education accounted for 29,000 of at increase, bringing the total number of opening to 275,000, and other state and local public sector job openings rose by 78,000 to 570,000.

Construction job openings soared by 138,000 to 370,000. This may in part be due to the surge in manufacturing plant construction subsidized by Biden-Harris administration policies.

Openings in the transportation, warehousing, and utilities sector rose by 77,000 to 367,000. Retail job openings fell by one thousand to 562,000 and wholesale trade jobs increased by 16,000 to 200,000.

Job openings in food and accommodations rose by 88,000 to 903,000. Arts and entertainment openings fell.

Manufacturing openings fell by 11,000 to 329,000, offset by a rise in nondurable manufacturing of 12,000 to 177,000. Mining jobs, which include oil and natural gas extraction, ticked up by 2,000 to 25,000.

The financial sector saw a sharp decline while professional and business services openings rose.

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