December Job Openings Highest Since August 2008
1. There were 3.4 million job openings on the last business day of December, up from 3.1 million in November. The number of job openings has trended upward since the end of the recession in June 2009 (see chart above).
2. Although the number of job openings remained below the 4.4 million openings when the recession began in December 2007, the number of job openings has increased 39 percent since the end of the recession in June 2009.
3. The overall number of seasonally adjusted job openings in December increased over the year by 15.6% and for total private openings by 20.4%. Openings for government jobs fell by 12.8% over the year.
4. For total job openings and total private openings, the December openings were at their highest levels in 40 months, since August 2008.
5. For manufacturing, December job openings were the highest in more than three and-a-half years going back to May 2008.
