Online Job Openings Reach 27-Month High in Oct.

"Online advertised vacancies rose a modest 47,400 in November to 4,457,200 following an increase of 113,700 in October, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) Data Series released today (see chart above).  The nation’s Supply/Demand rate stood at 3.37 unemployed for every advertised vacancy in October (the last available unemployment data)—a figure that is down from a peak of 4.73 in October 2009."

"In November, demand for workers continued to be positive, albeit moving at a disappointingly slow pace for the last few months," said June Shelp, Vice President at The Conference Board. "November was a surprisingly quiet month throughout the nation, with most states posting small gains / losses in advertised vacancies. In this weak U.S. economic recovery, office help, construction jobs, and positions in business and finance continue to show very sluggish growth."

MP: The number of online vacancies in November at 4.457 million was almost 31% above the advertised vacancies in the same month last year, and was the highest monthly count in more than two years (since August of 2008).