There were 5.0 million job openings on the last business day of December, little changed from November and in line with market forecasts. This was the highest level of job openings since January 2001. The job openings rate for December was 3.5%. The number of job openings was little changed for total private and increased for government in December. Job openings increased for health care and social assistance and for state and local government. The number of job openings increased in the Northeast region.
The number of job openings (not seasonally adjusted) increased over the 12 months ending in December for total nonfarm, total private, and government. Job openings increased over the year for many industries including the professional and business services and the health care and social assistance industries. The number of openings increased over the year in all four regions.
Data did not have any major impact on the markets. Euro is currently being traded few points above 1.1310 level, Sterling is around 1.5230 area, while Aussie is slightly below 0.7770 level.