Washington, Mar 13 (IANS): US employers posted more job openings in January than in the previous month, indicating further improvement in the job market, the Labor Department reported.
The number of job openings rose 2.2 percent in January from December to 3.69 million. It followed a nearly 5-percent decline in the previous month, reported Xinhua.
A separate Labor Department report released last month showed that the US unemployment rate stood at 7.9 percent in January, and that the total number of unemployed Americans topped 12.3 million.
That means an average of about 3.3 people competing for every job opening opportunity in January. Economists hold that in a healthy economy, the ratio of unemployed people to job openings should be roughly 2 to 1.