REPORT: More than 400,000 added in April, no workers to fill positions

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - The April jobs report came out Friday morning and it shows steady job growth.

According to the report, just over 400,000 jobs were added last month. That report comes one day after U.S. markets dropped dramatically, adding to the fears of some have a potential recession.

Rachel Blakeman with Purdue Fort Wayne says the problem is too many open positions and not enough workers.

“We are in a national situation of full employment. For employers who are thinking they can’t fill their jobs locally, should I be able to bring in people from out of town, will that solve my problem? No, there does not seem to be a surplus of workers nationally.”

The government also said this week that a record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in March. This is an expression of confidence in the economy by workers who believe they’ll find a new job.

Something else that is popping up, retirees returning to the workforce. Blakeman says that market volatility, in terms of the workforce and stock market, could have prompted the recent surge.

She says some people in retirement may miss working or the experience didn’t turn out to what they wanted it to be or they realize the amount of money they saved up is not enough to carry them until the end.

That’s when retirement planning comes into play. We talked with Chris Moore with Moore & Associates who says inflation has increased, and a lot of people are getting jobs or even a second job so they can afford some of the things they had in the past few years.

“Most of the time people don’t have as much money as they think so they go back to work. The problem with that is, you start taking social security, and you start getting taxed more for what you are doing because you have a different job.”

Moore says retirement planning is key with the amount of uncertainty in the economy.

The Allen County job numbers are supposed to drop later this month.

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