2.5 Million Open Jobs Is Nothing To Celebrate

The job openings rate in December 2009 was 1.9 percent, little changed from November 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Over the month, job openings increased in state and local governments across the country, while openings decreased in the Midwest.

The industries with the highest percentage of openings are education and health services, at 2.7 percent; that’s still down from 3.5 percent in December 2008.

Essentially, if a given company in America has 98 employees on its payroll, it’s looking to hire two. Two.

Buck up, lads. Stiff upper lip and all that.

Just don’t look at the chart below:

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting this Thursday, February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Michael Brito (Edelman Digital), and Tim Devane (bitly). Register now.