US job openings rise 1.8%

US employers posted more job openings in September from the previous month, indicating that the labor market recovery is gaining steam, the U.S. Labor Department reported Friday. The number of job openings rose 1.8 percent to 3.913 million in September from 3.844 million in August, said the department. A separate Labor Department report released earlier this month showed that the U.S. unemployment rate stood at 7.3 percent in October,and the total number of unemployed Americans topped 11.3 million. That means an average of about 2.9 Americans are competing for every job opening opportunity. Economists believe that in a healthy economy the ratio of the unemployed people and the job openings is roughly 2 to 1.