February 7, 2012 in Nation/World

Job openings jump to near a 3-year high

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The number of available jobs in the United States jumped in December to near a three-year high, supporting other data that show a brighter outlook for hiring.

The Labor Department says companies and governments posted 3.38 million jobs in December. That’s up from the 3.12 million advertised in the previous month and nearly matches the three-year high reached in September.

The report on job openings follows Friday’s optimistic employment figures. Those showed employers added 243,000 net jobs in January, and the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent.

Even with the gains, 13.1 million people were unemployed in December. That means an average of 3.9 people competed for each open job that month, the first time in four years that ratio was below 4 to 1.

32 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

Albert on February 07 at 8:07 a.m.
Really??? Please don’t tell that to my friends and neighbors who have been looking for work for months. We won’t mention the hard working folks at the Old Country, Perkins, KMart, and the ever-empty L..e’s in N.Spokane where a group of my friends were recently canned (head for Home Depot). Jobs? What jobs? More mis-speak flowing out of Washington…again.
IHike4Fun on February 07 at 8:22 a.m.
Albert, well spoken!
DonJulio on February 07 at 8:35 a.m.
Albert,
The article states “The number of available jobs in the United States”. Thus, the sample is the United States, NOT Spokane. Spokane is a VERY small piece of the overall pie called the United States. www.bestplaces.net lists Spokane’s future job growth at 28.82%, while the future job growth of the United States is listed at 31.25%. According to the site, “future job growth” considers jobs available over the next 10 years. Maybe it’s time to admit Spokane isn’t exactly a booming job market, and, indications show it might lack behind the rest of the nation for years to come. Tough spot for folks looking for work in Spokane, but, perhaps broadening their search geographically is in their long-term best interest.
WHS on February 07 at 8:40 a.m.
869 New Jobs in the Past 7 Days
http://www.spokanejobs.com/
Spokane, WA Job Trends
This graph displays the percentage of jobs with your search terms anywhere in the job listing. Since June 2010, the following has occurred: Spokane decreased 5%
http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobtrends/trend/q-location%3A%28Spokane%2C+WA%29
Lowe’s Hiring Event
Tuesday, February 9, 2012
Two Sessions: 10:30 AM or 12:30 PM
We will be discussing available positions for our Spokane locations and answering questions regarding the hiring process. If you’re searching for a career with real growth potential, take a look at the Fortune 50 Company that’s doubling in size every five years. Come share in our success. If you’re willing to succeed, we’re more than willing to help. Let’s build your future together with one of the following opportunities.
Positions Available
 Cashier – seasonal (spring and summer)
 Customer Service Associate – seasonal (spring and summer)
 Loader (courtesy clerk) – seasonal (spring and summer)
 Sales Floor Customer Service Clerks – permanent (will work 8 hour shifts on Friday, Saturday, and Lowe’s Hiring Event
 Tuesday, February 9, 2012
 Two Sessions: 10:30 AM or 12:30 PM
 We will be discussing available positions for our Spokane locations and answering questions regarding the hiring process. If you’re searching for a career with real growth potential, take a look at the Fortune 50 Company that’s doubling in size every five years. Come share in our success. If you’re willing to succeed, we’re more than willing to help. Let’s build your future together with one of the following opportunities.
 Positions Available
 Cashier – seasonal (spring and summer)
 Customer Service Associate – seasonal (spring and summer)
 Loader (courtesy clerk) – seasonal (spring and summer)
 Sales Floor Customer Service Clerks – permanent (will work 8 hour shifts on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and any open holiday
 Sunday and any open holiday
http://www.wa.gov/esd/spokane/events.htm#Event2
de3 on February 07 at 8:41 a.m.
In December, Forbes quoted a Manpower Group survey of over 18,000 business in the U.S. asking businesses about their hiring plans and found that Spokane tied for worst job market in the United States for 2012. That’s the truth guys and gals.
de3 on February 07 at 8:44 a.m.
I just checked your SpokaneJobs.com web site. I entered no job title but just Spokane, WA and it tells me there are 1,520,686 (yes, 1.5 million!!!) jobs within 10 miles of Spokane. Use it at your own waste of time risk.
johnclarke on February 07 at 9:25 a.m.
Personally I’m a little tired of any good news being greeting with some “election year” negative comments. Like Obama is up there in the Oval tweaking all these numbers.
tinybobidaho on February 07 at 9:26 a.m.
Okay, I have been silently stewing about this for a while. I’m sick and tired of hearing about the 3 million jobs created during the last 23 months of the Obama administration. What all the news outlets fail to tell you is that during that same time period, the Obama administration gave out over 3 million foreign work visas and work permits for new immigrants (illegals who are getting caught here and given a work permit if they haven’t committed a serious crime) Then they fudge unemployment numbers to make themselves look good by not counting the ones who have run out of benefits or are no longer looking for work. If you want the truth about all this, take a look here:
numbersusa.com
drywitt99 on February 07 at 9:27 a.m.
Albert,
As of 9:25am Worksource Washington lists 925 current openings in Spokane County.
You’re welcome!!
DickAdams on February 07 at 9:30 a.m.
I guess the AP doesn`t care whether or not this story is accurate. Its no wonder the MSM is disappearing. Gone are the days of journalism you could depend on. In today`s world the MSM merely copy published stories and hope for the best, or continue with their head in the sand.
drywitt99 on February 07 at 9:32 a.m.
And with he ‘bagger majority on City Council…..I’m sure it’ll get even better!!!!
Shadedmuse on February 07 at 9:40 a.m.
The ression is over!!!
Except in Spokane, where the ression will never be over until Voters show Cathy Mcmo-Mo and her boy and all the tea-baggers spokane electes on city, County council and state leg postions.
If your unemployed in Spokane its time to get on I-90 and watch Spokane the crappiest city on earth vanish in your rear mirror.
Spokane Newar crap near hell. the worst city on the planet. of no Jobs and broken dreams, and heaps of crme and drugs.
dataxman on February 07 at 9:42 a.m.
I hope Congress will use this report and do something with it - namely allowing the ‘Payroll Tax Holiday’ to end and stop extending unemployment benefits. 99 weeks is no longer necessary - we have unfilled jobs and the economy is getting stronger. Get off the sofa and take part
DB1640 on February 07 at 9:43 a.m.
You will have to decide for yourself. If you have relatives around the country and they are all doing well with jobs, then it may be true. Mine are in the midwest and east coast, and have used up their unemployment and are now living with nearby relatives or friends. They are depressed and cannot find jobs. Personally I don’t believe this story and can’t imagine where they got their numbers.
Deeb on February 07 at 10:49 a.m.
If you doubt the Labor Department’s report, please provide your own statistics on the national job trend so that we may compare them and decide which are more credible.
Otherwise, why not just be happy that the economy is improving after a couple of rocky years…even if this means admitting that something positive actually happened under a (gasp) Democratic President.
Would you have believed the same statistics if they had been issued by the exact same Labor Department when George W. Bush was in office, or would you have assumed that those numbers also were “lies”? Why or why not?
WHS on February 07 at 11:04 a.m.
de3 on February 07 at 8:44 a.m.
I just checked your SpokaneJobs.com web site. I entered no job title but just Spokane, WA and it tells me there are 1,520,686 (yes, 1.5 million!!!) jobs within 10 miles of Spokane. Use it at your own waste of time risk.
Hmm, I think you might be exaggerating a little here (i.e. full of sh*t). As I just performed a search for Spokane Wa and left the job blank. It said (and I cut-n-paste)
Spokane Wa Jobs
(469 MATCHES)
http://www.spokanejobs.com/jobs/job-search.asp?fkeywords=Spokane+Wa&fcareerfocus1=174
However, there are some people who just don’t want to work… So, they will make up any old thing they can to justify their laziness… This is fine, until they start whining about it.

WHS
DB1640 on February 07 at 11:06 a.m.
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” Mark Twain.
greenlibertarian on February 07 at 11:16 a.m.
Don’t you DARE try and be reasonable and logical, deeb. EVERYONE knows the government is fudging the numbers! I’ve seen it a hundred times.
Repeat a lie long enough…
Dazzeetrader11 on February 07 at 11:34 a.m.
There is jobs out there. WIth Obama’s handouts though, I doubt people will go find them. Standard thought in the handout generation is this” why work when I might mess up my unemployment?” If a job only gets a person $200 extra dollars every month,……you know considering gas costs and all those extra costs ( clothing, etc) why take a job where you must be responsible to a schedule and the dreaded “MAN” who RULES you???
The culture has shifted. Bet those “demeaning to my station in life” jobs won’t be filled. I seriously doubt those jobs will be filled…and if they might be, lots of people cannot run a cash register….there will always be reasons for people not to work.
Nobody has the courage to say what must be said….”you work or you don’t eat”. Harsh I know but I have distant ( and I plan to keep them distant) relatives who think like the above. The culture has been poisoned.
pmbrown49 on February 07 at 12:42 p.m.
The BEST jobs out there are working for state government. You can even work from home….actually you don’t even need to work and you can still be at home!
What a country!
http://www.king5.com/news/investigators/Millions-wasted-paying-state-workers-to-do-nothing-138756179.html
misjustice on February 07 at 1:00 p.m.
If you’re not rich, it’s your own damn fault!
de3 on February 07 at 1:01 p.m.
Go here
http://www.spokanejobs.com/jobs/job-search.asp
Enter Spokane, Wa for the city/state and select a 10 mile radius.
It now says “1,617,698 MATCHES”.
And then read Mr. Bernanke’s comments testifying to Congress - read the whole article for a broad perspective
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/bernanke-reiterates-u-s-labor-market-is-long-way-from-return-to-normal.html
The_Seer on February 07 at 1:20 p.m.
More people were at work in the U.S. ten years ago than are today. The reality is we have experienced a decade of non-growth in the employment sector while the top 1% have enjoyed 200% growth in their already swelled incomes. This has been accomplished mainly by tax policy and deregulation.
I’m still waiting for it to trickle down.
Dazzeetrader11 on February 07 at 2:05 p.m.
10 years ago= George Bush
There was money for hiring then. Obama? not so much. He’d rather focus on Obamacare and social issues like birth control and the Catholic Church.. The economy stinks.
WHS on February 07 at 2:36 p.m.
No problem de3… You go ahead and search your way and i’ll search mine, I am ok with it. Please though, just don’t try and tell me it’s a bogus site just to support your “poor me” idealogy.
I still say that even though Spokane is struggling, the simple fact is there are jobs out there. So, de3 and Albert can make up all the excuses they want… But da facts be da facts man.
Besides, isn’t it the radical republican capitalist way. If you are too stupid to get a job, quit your whining, go back to school and educate yourself. It’s not the corporations or the job creators fault, it’s yours (or your friends). Besides, as stated repeatedly by the radical right teabagger republicans, anybody that can’t find a job in 99 weeks obviously doesn’t deserve one.
WHS
The_Seer on February 07 at 2:40 p.m.
de: Did you even look at the “matches” contained on that site? Most of them are for online work at home scams, franchise opportunities, job training and very few current job offers from local employers. Even the adjusted amounts posted by other thread contributors are skewed because of this.
nslopeofw on February 07 at 3:35 p.m.
Yeah, shade, because of the past “x” years that Mary Verner was in charge (i’m sure another “bagger” in your eyes) and was making all those jobs (many, I’m sure), somehow Cathy McMorris-Rogers jumped over Verner, and controlled Spokane’s economy.
What a silly maroon you are. I cant imagine anyone as nutty, preposterous, ignorant, silly, simpleminded, or just plain bigoted as you are. (the list could go on for a long time) If you had a brain, you would truly be dangerous.
Someday perhaps you will quit smoking all that weed, and after letting your brain clear up, you will begin to see some reality. Your obsession with TEA partiers is reminiscent of that psycho that shot rep. Gabrielle Giffords. You may need some help!
greenlibertarian on February 07 at 8:22 p.m.
Troll insulting troll, isn’t that special?
misjustice on February 07 at 8:26 p.m.
Oh, my! The economy can’t be improving. If things do get better what will the regressives run on during this election year? Although you can’t fault them, they did their best to ensure that the economy stayed in the toilet.
Jeffrey_Grey on February 07 at 10:52 p.m.
de3,
Your site, “Spokane, WA”, 10 mile radius, left “Industry” blank.
Result: “1,438 Matches” as of 10:30PM.
(The default search range of 40 miles yielded “1,605 Matches”)
It’s pretty obvious what’s driving the regressive panic here. Their candidates have all hitched their wagon to the star of economic failure on the part of Obama. If the economy continues to improve, they have nothing to run on except for the fall back of ‘moral issues’ - which plays pretty badly against the backdrop of ‘get government out of our lives.’
nslopeofw on February 08 at 9:45 a.m.
Green,
That is rich coming from a hating troll-bitch like you.
detroitdude on February 08 at 10:00 a.m.
I chuckle each time I see a post from Shadedmuse that starts with: “The ression is over!”
Well played lol