WASHINGTON — U.S. employers advertised fewer job openings in August and kept hiring flat, another sign the American job market has lost strength since spring.

The Labor Department reported Friday that job openings slid to 5.4 million in August from a record high 5.7 million in July. Hiring was little-changed at 5.1 million.

The number of people quitting jobs — a measure of confidence in the job market — was also essentially unchanged from July at 2.7 million.

The job market has weakened the past two months, reflecting slower global economic growth. Cautious employers added just 142,000 jobs in September, pulling hiring for the July-September quarter down to a lackluster 167,000 jobs a month from an average 231,000 from April through June.

US Airways puts last flight in airPHILADELPHIA — The final US Airways flight began its roundtrip journey Friday between Philadelphia and San Francisco.The plane is Flight 1939, named for the airline’s founding year.The flight left Philadelphia International Airport at 10:36 a.m. Friday — 31 minutes late.The Airbus A321 was to make scheduled stops in Charlotte, N.C., Phoenix and San Francisco before returning as a red-eye flight back to Philadelphia on Saturday.All future flights will fly under the American Airlines banner, following the completion of a merger announced in 2013.US Airways was formed in Pittsburgh as All American Aviation. It later operated as Allegheny Airlines before becoming US Airways.

VW hires manager to deal with scandalFRANKFURT, Germany — Volkswagen is hiring a top anti-corruption manager from competitor Daimler as it struggles to clean up a scandal over cheating on U.S. emissions tests.The company said Friday it would hire lawyer Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt as an executive on its top management body tasked with integrity and legal affairs. She begins Jan. 1.Before working for Daimler, Hohmann-Dennhardt, 65, served as a judge on Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court and as justice minister in the state of Hesse in southwestern Germany.Daimler said it was agreeing to release her from her contract as compliance executive in the interests of good corporate governance.Naming a compliance executive was a step taken by Daimler AG and German industrial equipment maker Siemens after bribery scandals at those companies. The idea is to put someone responsible for clean business practices at the very top level of management. German corporations are run by a management board comprised of the top executives, such as the CEO and the chief financial officer.U.S. officials say Volkswagen AG programmed diesel engines on 482,000 cars to disable emission controls when the vehicles were not being tested. The company is recalling 2.4 million 2009-2015 model year cars with the deceptive software in Germany and 8.5 million of them in total across Europe.

GE results top expectationsNEW YORK — General Electric on Friday reported a decline in third-quarter profit, but strong performances from its core units helped the company top Wall Street expectations.General Electric has been making a push to focus on industrial businesses — making large, complicated equipment for other companies — and shrinking its other businesses that focus on finance. The largest change involves selling most of GE Capital’s assets, including $26.5 billion in real estate assets.The Fairfield, Conn.-based company said profit fell 29 percent to $2.51 billion, or 25 cents per share.

Manufacturing output dropsWASHINGTON — U.S. manufacturing production fell for the second straight month in September as factories cranked out fewer appliances, computers, and electronics.Factory output declined 0.1 percent, the Federal Reserve said Friday, following a drop of 0.4 percent in August. Manufacturers also cut back on production of steel and other metals.The decline suggests that a strong dollar, weak overseas economies, and cautious U.S. consumers are holding back factory output. Many companies are also focused on reducing stockpiles that were built up in the spring by cutting back on orders for new goods.Overall industrial production, which includes mining and utilities, fell 0.2 percent, also its second straight decline. Mining output plunged 2 percent as energy companies sharply reduced oil and gas drilling. Utility output rose 1.3 percent.