In light of the latest jobs numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers are filling open positions at a slow rate, according to Human Alliance Ltd, a management consulting firm specializing in human resources issues.
"Right now, we have about 3.7 million jobs open with a hire rate (3.2 percent) that stayed the same in the month of November," says Joe Shaheen, founder and managing principal of Human Alliance. "We're simply not filling those jobs fast enough, and the U.S. economy is suffering from it."
According to the BLS, the separation rate is at 3.1 percent and remained the same in November. The separation rate is composed of voluntary and other types of separations not because of layoffs or similar events.
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For most of 2012, the job openings measure, which accounts for about 4.13 million job openings, kept on approximately the same pace while forecasts estimated it at nearly the same for the start of calendar year 2013. This is a sign of an unchanging labor market.
"We'll have to wait and see some of the numbers for the overall economy at the start of 2013," Shaheen says. "Those numbers will help to shed some light on the overall performance of the job market."
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