Labor Department: Previous Month

previous month: Still, the number of available jobs remained near a 5 1/2-year high. The Labor Department said Tuesday that job openings slipped 1 per cent to 3.99 million in December, from 4.03 million in the previous month. Novembers total was the first time that available jobs had topped 4 million since March 2008, according to 660 News. Job gains slowed in January for the second straight month, according to last weeks monthly employment report. That has raised concerns that the economys momentum has stalled after healthy growth at the end of last year. Januarys report showed that employers added just 113,000 jobs, up from Decembers scant 75,000. Both months were far below average gains of 194,000 a month last year and U.S. employers posted fewer job openings in December and hiring slowed, adding to evidence that the job market weakened that month. Total hiring fell to 4.4 million from 4.5 million in November, according to Tuesdays report. While job openings are mostly back to pre-recession levels, hiring is below the roughly 5 million a month thats typical for a healthy market. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.