Simply Hired^®, a technology company that operates one of the world’s largest job search engines, today reported that nationwide job openings have increased for the sixth time in seven months. In November, job openings had a slight increase of 0.1 percent month-over-month and 3.4 percent year-over-year. Nationwide job competition held steady at a ratio of three unemployed persons for every one job opening. These findings are part of Simply Hired’s December 2012 Employment Outlook, which highlights job industry and employer trends in national and regional U.S. markets.

“We have seen consistent job opening growth during the latter half of this year, which is a very good sign that our economy is headed in the right direction,” said James Beriker, president and CEO of Simply Hired. “Since consumer confidence is continuing to increase and the ratio of unemployed persons to each job opening is holding steady at three to one, Simply Hired has an optimistic view that 2013 will be another year of steady growth.”

Hiring increases in 40 percent of major metros

Job openings increased in 20 out of 50 major metros in November, however, most changes – both gains and losses – were very minimal this month. Chicago (5.2 percent) and Tampa & St. Petersburg (4.0 percent) experienced the largest gains of the top 50 metro areas. Job competition among metro areas also remained steady, with slight improvements seen in only nine major metros.

Job openings increase in half of industries

Job openings increased in half of all industries (nine out of 18) in November. The automotive (12.6 percent) and healthcare (8.4 percent) industries showed the largest gains. Year-over-year, nearly two-thirds of industries (61 percent) are experiencing growth. However, the non-profit and retail industries faced the largest decreases in job openings this month, at -7.5 percent and -5.9 percent, respectively.

Educators and food worker job openings increase

Half of all occupation categories (nine out of 18) experienced growth in job openings this month. The largest amount of growth was seen among educators (6.3 percent) and food workers (5.2 percent). Of the occupations that faced declining job openings, farm, fishing and forestry workers (-8.8 percent) experienced the decrease month-over-month. However, the majority of change, both gains and losses, was relatively small considering that two-thirds of all occupations changed by less than one percent.

About Simply Hired

Simply Hired^®, a technology company that operates one of the world’s largest job search engines, connects job seekers and employers through its powerful search engine platform and performance-based job advertising solution. With more than 30 million unique visitors per month, the company provides job seekers access to over eight million job openings across all job categories and industries, reaching job seekers on the web, social networks, mobile devices, email and through more than 40,000 partner sites including LinkedIn, Mashable and Bloomberg Businessweek. The Sunnyvale, California-based company has twice been named a “Top Workplace” by The Bay Area News Group and is privately held with funding from Foundation Capital and IDG Ventures.