Home » Job openings increase to 3.4 million in December 2011

Job openings increase to 3.4 million in December 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Feb. 7, 2012) — There were 3.4 million job openings on the last business day of December, up from 3.1 million in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The hires rate (3.1 percent) and separations rate (3.0 percent) were unchanged over the month. The job openings rate has trended upward since the end of the recession in June 2009. (Recession dates are determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research.) This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the nonfarm sector by industry and by geographic region.

Job Openings

The number of job openings in December was 3.4 million, up from 3.1 million in November. (See table 1.) Although the number of job openings remained below the 4.4 million openings when the recession began in December 2007, the number of job openings has increased 39 percent since the end of the recession in June 2009.

The number of job openings in December (not seasonally adjusted) increased over the year for total nonfarm and total private; the level was little changed for government. Several industries saw increases in the number of job openings over the year, while the number of job openings decreased for federal government. The South region experienced an increase in the number of job openings over the year.

To view the full release, go HERE.