Job Openings Ticked Up in June

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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The U.S. Labor Department said in its latest Job Openings and Turnover Survey that job openings at U.S. workplaces rose to 3.76 million in June from 3.66 million in May. Year over year, job openings increased 16%. Specifically, private openings increased 17% to 3.4 million, and government openings rose 10% to 363,000.

More than 4 million jobs were open when the recession began in December 2007. Given the 12.75 million unemployed people in June, there were about 3.4 potential job seekers for each opening. But that was down from 3.5 in May. In June of 2011, about 14.02 million people were unemployed, or each opening had about 4.3 potential seekers.

The Labor Department also said the number of separations, such as quits and layoffs, fell to 4.28 million in June from 4.46 million in May. The total number of hires, though, fell to 4.36 million from 4.46 million. The level of hires was approximately 5 million when the recession began.

This follows last Friday’s report from the Labor Department indicating that 163,000 jobs were added in the U.S. in the month of July, topping expectations for a 100,000 gain. While the unemployment rate technically rose to 8.3% from 8.2%, the difference was statistically insignificant.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey results for July 2012 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, September 11, 2012

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Photo of Trey Thoelcke
About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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