Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery opens Dec. 16 from Cape Foulweather (just south of Depoe Bay) to the California border, according to a press release.

Pre-season testing shows that crabs remain too low in meat yield to open commercial fishing from Cape Foulweather to the Washington border. The next round of crab meat yield and biotoxin testing will help determine if this area can open Dec. 31 or is further delayed, the release said.

Targeted to open Dec. 1, Oregon’s ocean commercial Dungeness crab season can be delayed or partially opened so consumers get a high-quality product and crabs are not wasted. This year’s season was initially delayed until at least Dec. 16 due to low meat yield in some coastal areas.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife tests crabs out of Oregon’s six major crabbing ports in partnership with the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, Oregon Department of Agriculture, and the commercial Dungeness crab industry.

The number of job openings in the United States dropped more than expected in October to a 32-month low signaling a slow down in employers’ hiring last seen at the height of the pandemic in early 2021.

There were 8.7 million jobs in October down from 9.3 million the previous month, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, also known as JOLTS, released Tuesday morning. September figures were also revised downward.

The drop in job openings is a welcome development for the Federal Reserve, which has been fighting to bring down inflation by raising interest rates to cool off the broader economy. The Fed monitors job openings as a sign of its progress.

The latest data shows that the Fed has so far been successful in slowing down labor market demand without triggering widespread layoffs.

“The labor market is unmistakably cooling after running red hot for the last few years,” Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank wrote in an email Tuesday.

October’s report shows the lowest job openings figure since March 2021, a period when the economy was still struggling to get back on its feet after more than 20 million people lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic. But job openings are still elevated above their pre-pandemic levels, signaling a labor market that remains favorable to workers.

The November jobs report to be released Friday will provide the latest snapshot of the state of the labor market headed into the new year. Overall job creation has also shown sustained cooling in recent months, with the economy adding 150,000 jobs in October, but has remained strong enough to keep the economy afloat.

ASM International NV plans to invest $324 million in a new headquarters in Arizona, furthering its international expansion in a state with an already-booming semiconductor economy.

The Dutch manufacturer of chipmaking gear is set to hire 500 people for the new facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, on top of more than 800 it already employs in the state. The company has had its U.S. headquarters in Phoenix since 1976.

The move is part of a continuing push to expand ASM’s footprint around the world, even as growth slows in the chip industry. Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Loh said the company plans to keep hiring in 2024, though not as quickly as in recent years.

Loh is visiting Arizona this week as part of a Dutch delegation that includes Prime Minister Mark Rutte and a cadre of chip executives.

ASM’s Scottsdale announcement adds to more than $60 billion in semiconductor projects in Arizona since 2020, including massive facilities under construction by Intel Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Those commitments have made the Phoenix region a hot spot for the US chip industry as President Joe Biden’s administration prepares to dole out semiconductor subsidies valued at $100 billion. The money from the 2022 Chips and Science Act aims to boost domestic manufacturing of critical electronic components and wean the US off Asian supply chains that Washington worries pose a national security risk.

Loh said ASM is evaluating whether the company is eligible for US incentives that are geared toward smaller supply-chain investments, as opposed to large-scale manufacturing. The Commerce Department opened a portal accepting proposals last week and will take submissions through Feb. 1.

Industry officials say that one of the biggest threats to the US effort is a lack of engineers, computer scientists and technicians. Chip companies could struggle to fill almost 60% of the roughly 115,000 jobs they are slated to add by 2030, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

ASM will focus on trying to lure research and development and software engineers, Loh said. He acknowledged that it’s a competitive market for those kinds of employees.

”So far, we have been able to get our fair share,” Loh said. But with the new hiring push, “we will probably have to step up our efforts to do even more.”

–With assistance from Cagan Koc and Ian King.

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