Reuters: Small Business News: U.S. job openings edge lower, quits hold steady

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U.S. job openings edge lower, quits hold steady Oct 10th 2012, 15:05 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News About one third of South African truckers end strike Tue, Oct 9 2012 PRECIOUS-Gold hit by largest 2-day fall since August Mon, Oct 8 2012 Obama touts jobs report as he seeks to lift campaign Fri, Oct 5 2012 Oil dips as weak global economy offsets rise in U.S. jobs Fri, Oct 5 2012 U.S. jobless rate tumbles to near four-year low Fri, Oct 5 2012 Analysis & Opinion Why rise in part-time employment does not explain U.S. jobless rate decline Why un-revised jobs numbers matter Related Topics Small Business » Money » A day labourer stands behind a sign for an employment center in San Diego, January 6, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Mike Blake WASHINGTON | Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:05am EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. job openings fell slightly in August, a troubling sign for a labor market that is recovering at a painfully slow pace. Job openings - a measure of labor demand - dropped to 3.56 million from 3.59 million in July, the Labor Department said on Wednesday in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The data casts a small shadow over recent signs of improvement in the labor market. Government data last week showed the U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 7.8 percent in September, its lowest level since President Barack Obama took office. That was seen as providing a boost to Obama's re-election bid. Wednesday's data, however, showed workers were still very cautious about the strength of the economic recovery. The rate at which workers are quitting their jobs held steady in August at 1.6 percent for the seventh straight month. That rate, which measure the share of the employed who quit their jobs, was usually above 2 percent over the few years before the 2007-09 recession. In a brighter sign, the recent improvement in the unemployment rate, which also dropped in August, has left fewer unemployed workers chasing each job opening, despite the drop in new positions. In August, there were 3.52 unemployed workers for every job opening, down from 3.56 in July. Still, before the start of the last recession that ratio was below 2 workers for every opening. The hiring rate also improved modestly in August, rising to 3.3 percent. (Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by James Dalgleish) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (2) Suprise…lies or altitude??? Oct 10, 2012 11:45am EDT  --  Report as abuse Jack Welch may be on to something. Oct 10, 2012 11:55am EDT  --  Report as abuse See All Comments » Add Your Comment

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