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The number of open jobs in the economy stayed pretty flat in November, near a 2 1/2-year low reached in October and consistent with a broader downward trend in the number of available jobs, The Hill reported. Openings fell to 8.79 million from 8.85 million in October, while new hires dipped to 5.47 million from 5.83 million, the Labor Department reported Wednesday in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The latest numbers hold the ratio of open jobs to job seekers even at about 1.4-to-1, which is down significantly from its post-pandemic peak of nearly two open jobs for every unemployed person. The strength of the labor market has been a frequent source of surprise for economists during the recovery from the pandemic, but signs of cooling are becoming more noticeable. Despite jaggedness in the curve of monthly job openings over the past two years, an overall downward slope has taken hold since openings peaked in March at more than 12 million.

Nearly 170 former employees of California's failed First Republic Bank have sued the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), alleging that the regulator is improperly blocking their access to at least $150 million in retirement funds, a plaintiffs' attorney said yesterday, Reuters reported. The lawsuit marks the latest fallout for the FDIC from three bank failures earlier this year that cost the agency's deposit insurance fund about $32 billion and have drawn scrutiny from lawmakers. The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California but has not been previously reported. With assets of more than $200 billion, First Republic in May became the largest bank to fail since the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, despite efforts by major banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co to right the ship, including a $30 billion infusion of deposits in March of this year. As receiver, the FDIC in May sold virtually all the bank's assets to JP Morgan, which assumed all deposits as well. In their complaint, the former employees allege that in mid-May the FDIC stopped payments intended for them under a deferred compensation plan that First Republic had earlier established for them in a trust. They say the FDIC instead began treating them as unsecured creditors, meaning they could be left with nothing.

A Phoenix-based solar panel installation firm once hailed as one of the fastest-growing companies in the nation has ceased operations, laid off dozens of employees and filed for bankruptcy protection, the Phoenix Business Journal reported. Erus Energy submitted a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN filing, with the state of Arizona on Nov. 9 indicating plans to lay off 56 employees at 21402 N. 7th Ave. Founded in 2004, Erus had operations in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, serving more than 17,000 customers. Erus ranked No. 2,394 on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the nation in 2020, the Business Journal previously reported. The Nov. 9 WARN filing contained a letter from Erus CEO Abraham Sabbagh to Erus Energy employees, which was obtained by Phoenix Business Journal on Dec. 8. The letter stated that the company was ceasing operations and laying off workers on Nov. 3, citing challenging conditions in the residential solar industry including elevated interest rates, utility permitting delays and lower installation rates.

Bankrupt trucking company Yellow Corp received court approval on Tuesday to sell most of its shipping centers and real estate to multiple buyers for $1.88 billion, ending a bidder's long-shot effort to keep the company intact, Reuters reported. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Goldblatt approved the sale at a court hearing in Wilmington, Del., saying that the purchase price was a "tremendous outcome" for the trucking company and its creditors. The sale, which will parcel out 130 of the company's shipping centers to multiple buyers, generated enough cash to pay off the company's $1.2 billion in pre-bankruptcy debt, including $700 million owed on a U.S. Treasury Department COVID-19 pandemic relief loan approved by former President Donald Trump's administration in 2020. Yellow is still seeking buyers for its remaining owned and leased real estate, including 46 shipping terminals, as well as its fleet of trucks. Yellow chose to break up its assets rather than keeping the company intact for an outside buyer, despite pressure from U.S. Senators from both parties who argued that the company should remain intact as a way to save jobs.

Yellow, the trucking company that shut down its operations and filed for bankruptcy protection this summer, on Wednesday rejected a trucking executive’s bid to buy and restructure its business, the New York Times reported. In a letter sent to the prospective buyer, Yellow’s lawyers contended that the bid was “not viable,” saying they had not gotten any indication that the bid had the support of the company’s creditors, including the Treasury Department, which had made an emergency loan to the company during the pandemic. The letter also said that the plan to revive Yellow underestimated the costs and difficulties of such an effort. The bid would not be “confirmable by a bankruptcy court or in the best interests of Yellow’s stakeholders,” the letter said. Yellow’s management intends to soon complete its own bankruptcy plan, which involves selling off the company’s assets to different buyers. The company this week released the results of an auction in which the winning bidders committed to spend nearly $1.9 billion on 128 terminals, Yellow’s most valuable assets. On Dec. 12, the company plans to seek approval for the sales from a federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware.

Self-driving trucking company TuSimple Holdings TSP said Monday that it is winding down its U.S. business, reducing its workforce to about 30 people as it looks for a buyer for its assets that remain in the country, the Wall Street Journal reported. The demise of TuSimple’s U.S. operations marks a precipitous fall for the one-time leader in autonomous long-haul trucking. The San Diego-based company in the past year has had to grapple with safety concerns as well as government scrutiny of its dealings with a Chinese trucking startup. TuSimple is now moving its business to China, according to company filings. The company said on Monday that it laid off about 150 employees or 75% of its U.S. staff. That brings its global workforce down to about 700 full-time employees — half of what it had in the summer of 2022. Most of the remaining employees are in China. TuSimple has repeatedly reduced its U.S. staff since late last year. TuSimple has stopped hauling freight in its trucks and closed most of its autonomous driving testing and development efforts, according to company statements. It told investors in a company filing that it expects no significant revenue this year. TuSimple said the remaining employees are charged with winding down what’s left of the company, including selling its assets. TuSimple has been seeking a buyer for months. The company is valued at about $229 million. It went public on a U.S. exchange in 2021 at a $8.5 billion valuation. Its shares jumped 6% Monday to $1.00.

U.S. companies scaled back hiring in November, with manufacturers reducing headcount to the lowest level since early 2022, adding to evidence of a cooling labor market, Bloomberg News reported. Private payrolls increased 103,000 last month and October’s reading was revised lower, according to figures published by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a reading of 130,000. Service-providing sectors, including education and health services as well as trade and transportation, drove the advance. Leisure and hospitality, which has been a major driver of job creation during the pandemic recovery, cut jobs for the first time since February 2021. “That boost is behind us, and the return to trend in leisure and hospitality suggests the economy as a whole will see more moderate hiring and wage growth in 2024,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said in the release.