Fake jobs hide cooler reality for US workforce

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) – U.S. economic data is telling two different stories. Still-high job openings suggest demand for workers remains unusually strong. Yet technology layoffs and easing wage growth point to weaker hiring. With listings for positions that don’t exist, dubbed ghost jobs, and stale postings complicating the monthly openings count, the latter signal is probably closer to reality. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 9.9 million job openings in February on Tuesday, still up 42% from the last pre-pandemic reading. The true count is probably lower. Unique job postings collected from hundreds of websites have fallen back…