Spokane7
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January 12, 2010 in Business, Nation/World
Job openings drop as hiring remains elusive
WASHINGTON — The competition for jobs is intensifying as companies are reluctant to hire new workers, leaving millions of unemployed Americans chasing fewer job openings.
There were nearly 6.4 unemployed workers, on average, for each available job at the end of November, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday. That’s up from 6.1 in October and a record high.
There were 1.7 jobless people for each opening in December 2007, when the recession began.
Job openings fell sharply to 2.42 million in November from 2.57 million in October, according to the department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey.
That may sound like a lot, given the depths of the recession, but it’s the lowest number of job openings since July 2009 and the second-lowest since the department began tracking the data in 2000. It’s also about half the peak level of 4.8 million, reached in June 2007.
The decline shows that even as layoffs are slowing, hiring hasn’t picked up. The economy lost 85,000 jobs in December, the department said last week, an improvement from the average job cuts of 691,000 per month in the first quarter of last year. The unemployment rate was 10 percent, the same as in November.
Many economists expect the improving trend will continue and the economy will likely add jobs in the first quarter of this year. But with so many people out of work, the unemployment rate is forecast to top 10.5 percent later this year.
Companies are uncertain about the sustainability of the recovery, which has been fueled by government stimulus efforts such as tax breaks for home buyers. Those supports will start to fade this spring, and economists worry whether consumer or business spending will be able to pick up the slack.
“In light of that uncertainty, I don’t think anybody’s rushing to add large numbers of employees,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at investment firm Miller Tabak.
Still, the so-called JOLTS report shows that even in a recession, millions of Americans are hired and fired. Employers hired almost 4.2 million people in November, the report said, an increase of about 130,000 from the previous month. But the number of people who quit their jobs, were fired or were laid off rose to 4.3 million that month.
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Northwest wheat 
PhiltheBibliophil on January 12 at 10:25 a.m.
These numbers continue to be skewed. The situation is actually far worse. In Spokane for instance, many jobs depended on the construction growth we experienced. Construction Company owners, independant sub contractors, supply business’, both retail and wholesale do not factor directly into the equation of the unemployed, but the fact that if they are even still in business their margins and sales are virtually non-existant. Then with all the Mall “Bling” stores either closing or hanging by a thread with Part-time employees and others of the unemployed having given up trying to even get a job at Fast Food Restaurants the actual unemployment figure is nearer to 20%. And Spokane has it better than many places! Not a pretty picture for the future when you consider credit card default, huge foreclosures in the waiting, an overpriced stock market, trying to sustain Wars in two corrupt regions and continued dimished tax revenue!
empyrius on January 12 at 2:11 p.m.
Here is an awesome way the State could save countless billions in these hard times! The fourth post, the 2:04 p.m. comment by me “empyrius”, on “Tuesday’s Loose Thread”.
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/opinion/2010/jan/12/tuesdays-loose-thread/#comments
Peace
liarsinnews on January 12 at 8:35 p.m.
According to Gregoire that`s a dirty rotten lie. So there.