Some very good news on the jobs front: The number of job openings rose at their fastest pace in almost seven years in February, according to a new report from the Labor Department.
Of course the total number of job openings is still below pre-recession levels, since this total had fallen so far during the downturn. But even so, the monthly rise is a welcome development for the nation’s 13.5 million unemployed workers.
The growth in job openings, coupled with the drop in the number of people unemployed, means that the ratio of unemployed workers to openings has fallen quite dramatically. The figure in February was 4.4, down from a high of 6.9 in July 2009.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Haver Analytics
Layoffs and discharges are also near their record low level from the previous month. They have been quite low for a while, as the chief problem plaguing the job market during the recovery has not been layoffs but tepid hiring.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=8b1499ce82c11674bc3208ec68532d2e
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.