Improving Job Market

The picture is improving for unemployed job seekers.

In February, hiring picked up & the ratio of unemployed seekers to obtainable jobs improved to reach the lowest level since the finish of 2008, according to the latest government readings released Wednesday.

"Today's document was broadly positive & reflects continued improvement in the labor market," wrote Theresa Chen, an economist with Barclays Capital, in a note Wednesday. "We are encouraged by the persistent rise in the job openings rate."

The Labor Department reported that there were two.1 million job openings in February, up 352,000 from January & 570,000 from year-earlier levels. It was the largest number of obtainable positions since September 2008.

That ratio, which was an average of jobless for every open position in the five years before the beginning of the recession, reached a high of 6.9 jobless for every opening in July 2009.

With fewer people unemployed in recent months, there's only four.4 unemployed job seekers for every opening, an improvement from the ratio of two.1 jobless for every opening in January.


The document also showed that the number of new hires by employers in February rose to two.9 million, up 138,000 from January. Those laid-off or fired was small changed, with one.6 million dismissals in February, up 50,000 from the January reading, which was a record low since the information started being collected in late 2000.

The number of people quitting their jobs also rose, a lovely sign for labor market because people usually are more willing to leave their jobs when they have found better positions or have confidence in the job market. There were one.9 million workers who quit their jobs in February, up 254,000 from January & the highest level of those quitting in years.

Contributor: CNN

Industry: Job Market News