Advertised job openings are at a 3-year high

By Christopher S. Rugaber, The Associated Press

U.S. employers advertised more jobs in September than at any other point in the past three years, a hopeful sign that job market is slowly improving.

The Labor Department says companies and governments posted 3.35 million job openings. That's a 7 percent increase from August and the most since August 2008, one month before the financial crisis intensified.

Even with the gain, there's heavy competition for each job. Nearly 14 million people were out of work in September, which means an average 4.2 unemployed workers were competing for each opening. That's slightly better than August, but it is still more than twice the 2 to 1 ratio that economists say is healthy.

The economy added 158,000 net jobs in September. In October, only 80,000 jobs were added.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/08/8699658-most-job-openings-in-3-years-government-report-shows

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