JOLTS data on Hiring

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has an ongoing statistical program called JOLTS which stands for "Job Openings and Labor Turnover". The data lags only about 3 months behind real time. The opening line of the December 2008 JOLTS report says "there were 2.7 million job openings in the U.S. on the last day of December 2008". For the full report click here

The report also says that preliminary data for December estimate that 3.9 million people were hired in December. The downside is that 4.9 million people separated for employment, but the "separation" figure includes 2.0 milllion who quit or retired. So, roughly speaking in december, 3.9 million were hired and 2.9 million were laid-off.