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Job Listings Boost Outlook for Hiring

Openings increase to highest in 2 years

By Christopher S. Rugaber

December 8, 2010
 

WASHINGTON — December generally is a bad time to look for work, and even worse now that the unemployment rate is nearing double digits.

But new government data offers a reason for some optimism this holiday season: Job openings are at their highest level in two years. A private-sector survey, moreover, predicts the next few months will be the best time for hiring since the financial crisis erupted.

That should come as some comfort to job-seekers, especially after last week’s report that the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent last month and the economy added a scant 39,000 jobs.

Recruiters say the data, taken together, suggests job hunters should keep plugging away. Yes, the labor market is tight, and many hiring managers take time off over the holidays. But so do many job-seekers.

“That can work to the advantage of a job-seeker who doesn’t take a break, who really keeps going,” said Jennifer Schramm, spokeswoman for the Society for Human Resource Management.

Analysts say job openings indicate the outlook for the hiring picture because filling most jobs can take up to three months.

Businesses and government advertised nearly 3.4 million jobs at the end of October, up about 12 percent from the previous month, the Labor Department said Tuesday in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey.

That reverses two months of declines and is the highest total since August 2008, just before the financial crisis intensified.

Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse, said the report echoes other recent data showing that the economy is improving. Factories are busier, retail spending is up, and con-

sumer confidence is rising. Those improvements likely will translate into more hiring soon, he said.

The rise in the unemployment rate “should turn out to be just a bump in the jobs recovery road,” Basile added.

Overall, the number of advertised jobs has increased by about 1 million, or 44 percent, since the low point of July 2009, a month after the recession ended. But openings remain far below the 4.4 million advertised in December 2007, when the recession began.

A new survey by staffing company Manpower Inc. suggests businesses are ready to pick up the pace. Manpower’s U. S. hiring index rose to 9 percent for next quarter from 5 percent this quarter.

That’s the highest in two years, but still far below the 20 percent that the index averaged from 2003 to 2007.

The survey suggests the strongest hiring markets will be in Baton Rouge, La., Seattle and Milwaukee.

“The job market may be getting ready to shift into second gear,” said Jonas Prising, Manpower’s president of the Americas.

Still, the unemployment rate won’t return to a healthy level until the number of jobs created greatly outweighs the pace of layoffs. The gap remains too narrow, with employers hiring about 4.2 million people in October while 4.04 million people were laid off, fired or quit that month, according to the Labor Department report.

That helps explain why the jobless rate is falling in fewer U. S. cities. Only 200 of the nation’s 372 largest cities posted declines in October, down from 321 the previous month, the Labor Department said in a separate report.

Competition for jobs remains tough, but improving. The October figures showed 4.4 unemployed workers for each available job, down from 4.9 in September and the lowest since January 2009.

But the ratio has a long way to go to get back to the December 2007 level of 1.8.

The private sector increased help-wanted advertisements in October by the most in more than four years, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover report showed.

The gains occurred in a range of industries: Openings in retail rose by nearly 6 percent, while openings in professional and business services, a category that includes temporary jobs, soared by 33 percent.

Advertised jobs increased by 19 percent in education and health services, and by almost 14 percent in hotels and restaurants, the report said.