Entering a new cycle, labor demand in January improved slightly (up 1.0%) compared to December. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics employers added 853,000 jobs to their payrolls in the second half of 2011. During this time online labor demand declined steadily suggesting that open positions were being closed due to the hires but not replaced with additional needs. With January showing already some improvement we expect labor demand to grow over the next months and hopefully exceed…

Labor demand at the end of 2011 was back where the year began. In fact, it was 1.9% below last January’s average. What started in 2010 with plenty of optimism ended in a four months decline. In December, employers removed another 4.6% of their job openings compared to November. Nevertheless, the US economy had gained 1.45 million jobs last year by the end of November.

United States Job Openings (Online Postings)

January…