The number of hires in December hit a level not seen since before the recession officially began, according to revised data released by the Labor Department on Tuesday.
There were 5.24 million hires in December, adjusting for seasonal fluctuations, recorded in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey published Tuesday. That exceeds the level of November 2007, which was the last month before the recession officially began in December of that year, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Hiring dipped down to 5 million in January, according to preliminary data from the survey, but other indicators of job market strength in the report hinted at modest ongoing improvement in the month.
Advertised job openings edged up from 4.88 million in December to 5 million, solidifying major gains in job vacancies made over the course of 2014.
U.S. workers also quit in greater numbers in January, a development usually perceived as a sign of strength in underlying employment conditions because people have the confidence to leave a job.
The quits rate rose from 1.9 percent of total employment to 2 percent, near the historical average of 2.1 percent. Overall, 2.8 million people quit January, up from 2.38 million a year ago.
The publication of the gross jobs data included in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey lags the release of the more widely reported net jobs data by a month, but it is valued by investors and government officials for its more finely-grained detail about what is happening in the economy.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics previously said in the January jobs report that the economy added 239,000 jobs for January and the unemployment rate stood at 5.7 percent.
Last Friday, the Bureau reported that jobs growth picked up to 295,000 for February and the unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent. The corresponding Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data will be released next month.
Over the past year, job openings have grown by nearly 30 percent. There are now just 1.8 unemployed workers for each advertised job openings. That ratio is up slightly since December, but down nearly from around 2.5 a year ago and from almost 7 in the depths of the recession, marking much better odds for the millions of people who have struggled to find work.
Actual hiring has not improved as fast as businesses and governments have created job openings, with hiring up roughly 10 percent year over year.
Nevertheless, the leading data from the surveys that make up the monthly jobs report strongly suggest that hiring has picked up throughout the winter. Over the past three months, net job gains have averaged nearly 300,000.
