Today, SimplyHired.com released its January 2012 Employment Outlook highlighting national and local market outlooks, as well as industry and employer trends. According to the report, nationwide job openings fell slightly in December – down 1.9 percent month-over-month. However, December is a notoriously slow month for hiring, and job growth remained up 10.6 percent year-over-year when compared to 2010.
On the local level, despite the overall slowdown in hiring, six of the top 50 metro areas experienced increases in job openings in the last month of the year. Raleigh & Durham posted the greatest increase, up 2.7 percent, followed by Birmingham, Norfolk & Newport News, Louisville, Sacramento and Oklahoma City.
Meanwhile, the transportation industry continued to enjoy a seasonal boost (up more than 11 percent month-over-month) due to the increased demand for package transport, and nine other industries experienced job growth in December. The legal industry had by far the largest growth (121.9 percent), followed by non-profit, agriculture, military, government, automotive, healthcare, education and technology.
For more information, read the full report and press release.
