Some good news for jobseekers: A new survey shows job openings in Washington have grown for the first time in three years. The state’s job vacancy survey for this spring shows a 21 percent increase in openings since last fall. Health care showed the most vacancies of any industry, and registered nurses were the profession most in demand with more than 2,300 openings. Software engineers were the second most-needed workers, with nearly 2,000 openings. Other industries with high job openings were retail, and accommodation and food services. Forty-four percent of the jobs were in King County; 9 percent were in Snohomish County.
Broadband market moving too slowly
Federal regulators have concluded that the broadband market is not bringing high-speed Internet connections to all Americans quickly enough. In a report set to be released as early as Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission says broadband is not being made available to all Americans in “a reasonable and timely fashion.” Although the report is the FCC’s sixth inquiry into the state of broadband since Congress mandated in 1996 that it start tracking high-speed Internet connections, it marks the first time that the agency has concluded the market is not working in all corners of the country. The FCC’s national broadband plan, released in March, found that between 14 and 24 million Americans do not have access to broadband.
Apple to add iPad to nine countries
Apple, the Cupertino, Calif., maker of Mac computers and mobile devices including the iPhone, is rolling out its iPad to nine more international markets this week. In a statement Monday, Apple said its tablet computer will be sold starting Friday in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore. The iPad is currently available in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom at prices ranging from $499 for Wi-Fi and 16 gigabytes of flash memory to $829 for a version with Wi-Fi, 3G wireless connections and 64GB of memory.
T-bill rates mixed in Monday auction
The Treasury Department auctioned three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.155 percent, up from 0.15 percent last week. Six-month bills were auctioned at a discount rate of 0.195 percent, down from 0.2 percent last week. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,996.08, while a six-month bill sold for $9,990.14. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.157 percent for the three-month bills and 0.198 percent for the six-month bills. Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, was 0.28 percent last week, down from 0.31 percent from the previous week.
From Herald news services
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