Healthcare Job Postings Stable in December

"The year 2010 ended with a continuation of the lackluster labor demand we have seen throughout the last half of this year," says June Shelp, vice president at The Conference Board. "The strongest job demand was in the first quarter of the year, but the rest of the year failed to show that employers were significantly ramping up hiring across the economy. In the last half of 2010, advertised vacancies for workers in production, transportation, and construction and maintenance occupations increased, but demand for sales staff and workers in food preparation and serving, which rose in early 2010, moderated. After a promising start, 2010 ended with the overall job market relatively flat"

The nation's supply/demand rate stood at 3.39 unemployed people for every advertised vacancy in November (the last available unemployment data), down from a peak of 4.73 in October 2009. Nationally, there are 10.7 million more unemployed than advertised vacancies, The Conference Board reports.