Although the real estate industry is showing signs of improvement, high unemployment is still troubling this country. According to new reports, the number of job seekers outnumbers the number of job openings by six to one. These statistics come from the recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Their report also claims that layoffs were up by nearly 90% from the year prior in the month of September.
15.7 million people are out of work. The nation's unemployment rate rose above 10% for the first time since 1983 in October. And with fewer openings available, prospects for the unemployed are looking grim.
Job seekers now outnumber openings by more than six to one, the greatest discrepancy since the labor department began tracking job openings.
Job openings: There were fewer than 2.5 million job openings in September, down 35% from a year ago, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The only bright spot, according to Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist for the Economic Outlook Group, is that the number of job openings rose slightly to 2.48 million in September from 2.42 million in August.
The uptick in job openings "could be the first break in the clouds," he said."If the economy continues to show strength, then the new job openings could very well result in an increase in employment later this year and into 2010."
