Simply Hired^®, a technology company that operates one of the world’s largest job search engines, today reported that nationwide job openings continued to grow, with a 1.1 percent increase in January. Meanwhile, year-over-year job openings increased 7.6 percent. 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 February 2013 Employment Outlook, which highlights job industry and employer trends in national and regional U.S. markets.

“As many seasonal jobs come to a close in January, it is encouraging to see job opening growth continue this month,” said James Beriker, president and CEO of Simply Hired. “January marks the eighth time in nine months that we have seen an increase in nationwide job openings. It is even more encouraging to see some of the slower areas in the country showing year-over-year growth.”

Hiring increases in 80 percent of major metros

Job openings increased in 40 out of 50 major metros in January. West Palm Beach (6.0 percent), Seattle & Tacoma (4.2 percent), Las Vegas (4.1 percent) and Atlanta (3.3 percent) experienced the largest gains. In addition, the ratio of job seekers to job openings held relatively steady in the majority of metro areas.

Half of all industries see job openings increase

Job openings increased in 9 out of 18 industries in January. The agriculture (21.1 percent) and technology (13.7 percent) industries showed the largest gains. However, industries that decreased include non-profit (-30.0 percent) and legal (-22.6 percent). Year-over-year, sixty percent of industries are have experienced growth.

Personal care and services job openings increase

Nearly three-quarters of occupation categories (17 out of 24) experienced growth year-over-year. Personal care and services (17.6 percent) and building and groundskeepers (5.6 percent) workers contributed to this growth by experiencing the largest gains in January. However, computer engineers (-9.3 percent) faced the largest decline this month.

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.