The number of job openings in the U.S. economy climbed to the
highest level in seven years, becoming the latest labor-market
gauge to recover ground lost during the recession.
Job openings rose to 4.5 million in April, according to the
Labor Department's job-openings and labor-turnover survey. The rate
of job openings rose to 3.1% in April from 2.9% in March, also near
a seven-year high.
The pace of hiring has yet to recover, however. In April, 4.7
million workers were hired, the same number as in March. Before the
recession, hires often exceeded 5 million a month. Some economists
think unemployed workers lack the skills for many available
openings or that employers are discriminating against the long-term
unemployed.
Josh Zumbrun The Wall Street Journal Insurers Bolster Plans
Health insurers in several states are expanding the choice of
doctors and hospitals in their health-law plans amid concerns about
access to care.
"There have been quite a few network additions...and there are
more to come," said Jeff Rideout, senior medical adviser to Covered
California, the state's health-law marketplace. "We continue to ask
the plans to expand their networks to meet the needs of the
enrollees that we have."
CareSource, based in Dayton, Ohio, has added more than a
half-dozen hospitals this year, and hopes to double the number it
currently has to more than 50. Fidelis Care, a New York nonprofit
focused largely on Medicaid, has added more than 4,500 providers,
including 13 hospitals, this year. More hospitals and doctors have
joined "as we've started to get more enrollment, and as we've shown
that we are paying claims accurately and timely," said David
Thomas, chief operating officer.
The insurers that are expanding their networks said they aren't
responding to complaints. Instead, they said, the tweaks reflect
more willingness by some health-care providers to join the new
networks, which often pay them less than traditional employer
plans, as well as adjustments to serve the specific populations who
enrolled.
CareSource, for instance, said it added a children's hospital in
Cincinnati because the average age of enrollees is 41 years old and
many had families.
Anna Wilde Mathews The Wall Street Journal For Some, One Health
Plan
Small employers in 18 states will offer only one health plan to
workers when the Affordable Care Act's small-business exchanges
open this fall, federal officials said.
The 2010 law called for new online insurance marketplaces, which
were supposed to open last year, for small businesses to pick group
plans to cover workers. Those exchanges were delayed a year, and
federal officials say they will lack some functions when they open
in November.
The federal health law also called for employees at small
businesses to be able to choose from a range of plans on the
exchanges. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is
implementing the health law, said it is allowing states to limit
workers' choices for one year as a transition.
Louise Radnofsky The Wall Street Journal Air-Route
Competition
A government study finds relatively little decline in
competition on U.S. air routes during a recent period of
consolidation, in part crediting the expansion of discount
carriers.
The Government Accountability Office report, requested by
Congress, examined the effect on competition from 2007 to 2012,
when mergers created today's Delta Air Lines, United Continental
Holdings and Southwest Airlines.
On the 37 most-traveled U.S. routes, traversed by about 83
million fliers a year, the number of airlines providing nonstop or
connecting service decreased to an average of 4.3 in 2012 from 4.4
in 2007, the GAO found. The report counted airlines with more than
5% of the market on the given routes. On the 9,379 smallest city
pairs, also traveled by 83 million passengers, the average number
of competitors decreased to three in 2012 from 3.3 in 2007.
Jack Nicas The Wall Street Journal World Cup? Not Impressed
As World Cup fans flock to Brazil, many investors are heading in
the other direction, looking elsewhere in Latin America for
opportunities.
"At this point, for us, Brazil is a show-me story," says Mark
Eshman, chief investment officer at Sun Valley, Ohio-based
ClearRock Capital, which manages $400 million. Mr. Eshman is
watching the region carefully but with an eye on Latin America's
other dominant player--Mexico.
Though Mexico's economy grew just 1.1% last year--about the same
as Brazil this year--many are enthusiastic about it, thanks to
reforms including a tax overhaul and opening energy markets to
private companies.
Jorge Mariscal, emerging-markets chief investment officer at UBS
Wealth Management, an arm of UBS AG, sees Latin America now as "the
good, the bad and the ugly," with Brazil representing the "bad" and
Mexico garnering the "good" moniker. ("Ugly" countries, in his
view, include Venezuela and Argentina.)
Despite nearly full employment, Brazil's economy is growing at a
sluggish 1% due to low productivity, a result of scant investment
in areas such as infrastructure and housing, he says.
Daisy Maxey WSJ.com