AP reported that US employers posted the most job openings in four years in June 2012, a positive sign that hiring may pick up.
The Labor Department said that job openings rose to a seasonally adjusted 3.8 million in June 2012, up from 3.7 million in May 2012. That's the most since July 2008.
The data follow a report that said employers in July 2012 added the most jobs in five months. A rise in openings could signal better hiring in the coming months. It typically takes one to three months to fill a job.
Even with the increase, hiring is competitive. There were 12.7 million unemployed people in June, or an average of 3.4 unemployed people for each job.
That's down a bit from May and much lower than the nearly 7 to 1 ratio in July 2009, just after the recession ended. In a healthy job market, the ratio is usually around 2 to 1.
Still, employers have been slow to fill jobs. Since the recession ended in 2009, openings have increased 57%. Overall hiring is up only 19%. And openings are still below pre recession levels of nearly four million per month.
Employers added 163,000 jobs in July 2012, the department said last week. That followed three months of weak hiring and eased concerns that the economy was stalling.
Yet the economy has generated an average of 150,000 jobs per month this year, about the same pace as 2011. That's not enough to rapidly drive down the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3% in July 2012 from 8.2% in June 2012.
In June 2012, manufacturing, education and health care, and hotels and restaurants all posted more openings. Retailers and state, local and federal government agencies cut available jobs.
The report, known as the Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, shows the amount of hiring and firing that takes place in the US each month. It provides more details than the monthly jobs report.
For example, layoffs dropped to 1.8 million in June 2012, from nearly two million in May 2012. June's total is below pre recession levels and indicates that companies aren't cutting more jobs, despite sluggish growth.
And the number of people that quit their jobs also ticked down slightly to 2.1 million, from 2.2 million in May 2012. That's still higher than a year ago, when only 1.9 million people quit.
When more people quit their jobs, it can be a sign of a strengthening job market. That's because most people quit when they have a new job, usually with better pay. The number of quits is still far below the pre recession level of about 2.7 million.
The JOLTS report showed that overall, companies hired nearly 4.4 million people in June 2012, down from 4.5 million in May 2012. At the same time, nearly 4.3 million people were laid off, quit or left jobs for other reasons, such as retirement.
The difference between those two figures is similar to the net job gain that the Labor Department includes in the employment report each month.
Source - Associated Press
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