US Job Openings Lower in October

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By Paul Ausick Published

Job openings declined by 110,000 to 3.27 million in October according to the latest report from the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The slight downturn defied the upward trend in job openings since the official end of the recession in June 2009.

From the report:

Although the number of job openings remained below the 4.4 million openings when the recession began in December 2007, the level in October was 1.2 million higher than in July 2009 (the most recent trough for the series). The number of job openings has increased 35 percent since the end of the recession in June 2009.

The number of people hired in October reached 4 million, up 12% since June 2009, but still well below the 5.5 million hires in December 2007, the month which marked the beginning of the recession.

The number of people who lost their jobs in October totaled 1.6 million, not including those who quit voluntarily or retired. That’s down from 1.72 million in September.

Net employment gain in the 12 months to October totaled 1.3 million jobs. That’s about 108,000 jobs a month on average, and just barely enough to accommodate new entrants into the available workforce.

Photo of Paul Ausick
About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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