Half of US small-business owners have unfilled job openings

Reuters conveying some job market info ahead of Friday's nonfarm payroll report

• The National Federation of Independent Business said in its monthly jobs report that 50% of small business owners reported unfilled job openings in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 49% in July.
• August's reading is 28 percentage points higher than the 48-year average of 22%.
• The report also showed that 91% of owners reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill last month.

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Jobs data out overnight:

• US initial jobless claims 340K versus 342K estimate
• US August Challenger layoffs 15.7k vs 18.9k prior