South By North Strategies, Ltd.

From the Economic Policy Institute’s analysis of the November 2012 version of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) …

The November Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows job openings were essentially flat in November, at 3.7 million (up by 11,000). The number of job openings, which had been improving fairly steadily since reaching its low of 2.2 million in July 2009, has stalled in recent months; there has been no improvement in job openings since March 2012.
…
Layoffs decreased by 17,000 in November. This is positive news, although layoffs are not currently the primary concern; as this figure shows, despite month-to-month volatility in the data, layoffs have been at prerecession levels for more than two years. The primary concerns in the labor market are job openings and hiring. Hires were essentially flat in November, up by 3,000.  Like job openings, hires have made no progress since the first quarter of this year. This lack of progress is bad news because there is a long way to go before hiring returns to healthy levels, as it remains far below its prerecession level.