Hold the Celebration on Job Openings

The Labor Department released new data this morning on job openings and turnover. The release showed a big jump in openings in July compared with June or July of 2014. In the past this has been taken as evidence of the economy's strength and also as an indication that employers are having problems get workers with the needed skills.

One problem with this story is that many of the openings are showing up in retail trade and restaurants, which are not areas where we ordinarily think the skill r...