Job Openings in U.S. Dropped in December From Four-Year High

[Purveyor]

By Alex Kowalski - Feb 12, 2013 10:14 AM ET

Job openings in the U.S. dropped in December from a more than four-year high, showing further progress in the labor market will be slow to develop.

The number of positions waiting to be filled fell by 173,000 to 3.62 million, the fewest since September, from a revised 3.79 million the prior month that was the most since May 2008, the Labor Department said today in a statement. Hiring and firing also cooled.
More work opportunities would help reduce a jobless rate that’s been either 7.8 percent or 7.9 percent since September, and hearten Federal Reserve policy makers who say

unemployment is too high. A Labor Department report earlier this month showed employers took on 157,000 workers in January, the fewest in four months.

MORE...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-12/job-openings-in-the-u-s-decreased-in-december.html

[Yo_Mama]

1. And the percentage rate of hires dropped from a year ago

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm

3.1% down from 3.2% in December 2011. Well, the economy was stronger then.

[LiberalEsto]

2. No kidding.

My husband, a database administrator, has applied to more than 50 job openings in the past few months, with not one in-person interview. It has never in the past taken him this long to get an interview, let alone a job.

And I remain involuntarily unemployed since October, 2008.