News release: “There were 2.9 million job openings on the last business day of September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The job openings rate was little changed over the month at 2.2 percent. The hires rate and separations rate both remained at 3.2 percent in September. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total non farm sector by industry and geographic region…Even with the gains since July 2009, the number of job openings in September remained below the 4.4 million jobs open when the recession began in December 2007.”