For each job opening, four are seeking work

By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer

The government offered fresh data Tuesday showing that the job market is gradually improving. But there still aren?t enough jobs to go around.

Even as hiring picked up in November, the number of jobs openings declined, according the Labor Departments? monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).

Employers filled nearly 4.15 million jobs in November, up from a low of?3.6 million in October 2009 ? the lowest level in the 10 years the government has tracked the figure. That pickup mirrors the improvement shown in the Labor Department?s monthly employment surveys of households and employers. But it still badly lags the pace in the three years?before the recession hit, when employers were signing up more than 5 million new hires each month.

Though hiring picked up in November, job openings shrank by 63,000, to 3.2 million. October?s job openings were revised down by 43,000. ?

With 13.3 million people unemployed in November, there were about 4.2 job seekers for every?job opening, down a notch from the revised October ratio of 4.3-to-1. That is?roughly triple the ratio?seen before the recession hit in December 2007 but down from a peak of 6.9-to-1 in the summer of 2009.

?As the job-seekers ratio shows, what?s happening is not that millions of workers have become lazy, unskilled, or unproductive; it is that there are?not enough jobs available,? said?Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

The drop in job openings was biggest for professional and business services (down 59,000) and government (down 18,000). Openings edged higher in construction (up 3,000), trade/transportation/utilities (4,000), education/health services (13,000), and leisure/hospitality (32,000).

The survey also showed an uptick in the number of people who quit their jobs, which is often seen as a sign of that workers are more confident about their job prospects with a new employer. But the number of quits in November was still well below the pre-recession peak.

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Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/10/10098249-four-job-seekers-for-every-opening-report-shows

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