The number of available job openings fell by nearly one-quarter last year, as finding a job became much tougher.
Labor Department data released Tuesday estimates there were 2.5 million jobs available at the end of December, down from 3.2 million one year before.
At the same time, unemployment soared by more than one-third, leaving more laid-off workers competing for fewer jobs.
According to Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, there were 6.1 unemployed workers for every 1 available position in December.
That's a sharp jump from the previous December, at which time there were 3.4 workers per opening and from December 2007 with 1.7 jobless workers per opening.
