JOLTS stands for Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The December 2011 statistics show there were 3.88 official unemployed people hunting for a job to every position available^*. There were 3,376,000 job openings for December 2011, an increase of 8.27%, from the previous month of 3,118,000. This is a marked improvement from last month. While job openings have increased 60% from their June 2009 trough, jobs are still way below the 1.19 person per job opening at the start of the recession. Below is the graph of number of official unemployed, 13.097 million, per job opening for December 2011.

Realize the December JOLTS survey is using the Census and BLS data from before the January 2012 revisions. The 2010 Census and the payrolls benchmark revisions will be incorporated into the JOLTS report for January 2012.

If one takes the official broader definition of unemployment, or U-6, the ratio becomes 7.03^** unemployed people per each job opening for December. The December U-6 unemployment rate was 15.2%. Below is the graph of number of unemployed, using the broader U-6 unemployment definition, per job opening.

While the pundits and press gush over this month's employment report, things are still not rosy. The new official unemployed tally is 12,758,000. The average length of unemployment is still very high, 40.1 weeks.

People unemployed for 27 weeks or more is now 42.2% of the total unemployed, or 5,518,000 million. This number has barely budged as a percentage of total unemployed in comparison to pre-recession and historical levels.

The January 2012 monthly unemployment figures show the official unemployment rate dropped -0.2 percentage points to 8.3% and the total jobs gained were 243,000. Total private jobs came in at 257,000. Government jobs dropped -14,000. Information jobs dropped by -13,000 and financial services payrolls dropped by -5,000. All other major job categories had payroll gains.Temporary jobs increased 20,100. Manufacturing gained a much needed 50,000 jobs.

ADP, released their proprietary private payrolls jobs report. This month ADP is reporting a gain of 170,000 private sector jobs in January. December 2011 was revised down from 325,000 to 292,000. In contrast, the BLS reported 212,000 private sector jobs for December 2011. Graphed elow are the reported private sector jobs from ADP. This report does not include government, or public jobs.

Initial weekly unemployment claims for the week ending on January 7th, 2012 were 399,000. The DOL reports this as a increase of 24,000 from last week. The previous week was revised, from 372,000 to 375,000, an increase of 3,000.

JOLTS stands for Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The November 2011 statistics show there were 4.22 official unemployed people hunting for a job to every position available^*. There were 3,161,000 job openings for November 2011, a decrease of -1.95%, from the previous month of 3,224,000. For the 40th month, JOLTS again reflects a dismal jobs market and this is with job openings increasing 30% from their June 2009 trough. Below is the graph of number of official unemployed, 13.323 million, per job opening for November 2011.

If one takes the official broader definition of unemployment, or U-6, the ratio becomes 7.71^** unemployed people per each job opening for November. The November U-6 unemployment rate was 15.6%. Below is the graph of number of unemployed, using the broader U-6 unemployment definition, per job opening.

December's unemployment report had a little indicator of better news. A recession indicator, those forced into part-time hours due to slack economic conditions just plummeted. Overall, people being forced into part-time jobs declined by 371,000 in a month, to a tally of 8,098,000 people. A whopping 5.75% of total employed people are stuck in part-time jobs because that's all they could get. People in part-time jobs due to slack work conditions decreased -273,000, or -4.89%. Slack business conditions cause employers to cut hours of their employees. People who could only get a part-time job but want and need full time, decreased by -77,000, which is a -3.09% monthly decline.

The December 2011 monthly unemployment figures show the official unemployment rate dropped -0.2 percentage points to 8.5% and the total jobs gained were 200,000. Total private jobs came in at 212,000. Government jobs dropped -12,000. Temporary jobs also dropped -7,500. All other major job categories had payroll gains. Manufacturing gained a much needed 23,000 jobs.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas released their 2011 Year-End Job Cut Report & Economic Outlook report. While job cuts for December are down in comparison to November, -1.6%, or 41,785, layoffs still exceed 2010 by 31%.

Initial weekly unemployment claims for the week ending on December 31st, 2011 were 372,000. The DOL reports this as a decrease of 15,000 from last week. The previous report, two weeks ago due to the holiday, was revised, from 387,000 from 381,000, an increase of 6,000. Initial unemployment claims are well below the magic 400,000 number, which indicates any job growth. The week of February 26th, 2011, initial unemployment claims were 375,000.

Every week initial unemployment claims are revised. One simply cannot compare the reported numbers on a week to week basis due to the lag in States reporting claims data and revisions, plus the fact this is a 1 week time window, versus a monthly one. One needs to at minimum look at the 4-week moving average, which is also below the magic 400,000 number, 373,250.

Below is the 4 week moving average, set to a logarithmic scale to remove even more statistical noise, for the last year. We have a clear downward trend, which is good news. The initial unemployment report is indicating moderate to modest job growth.