By Ruth Mantell
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Job openings at U.S. workplaces increased to 3.76 million in June from 3.66 million in May, the U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday. Compared with the prior year, job openings rose 16% -- private openings increased 17% to 3.4 million, and government openings rose 10% to 363,000. There were more than 4 million jobs open when the recession began in December 2007. With about 12.75 million unemployed people in June, there were about 3.4 potential job seekers for each opening, down from 3.5 in May. In June of 2011, there were about 14.02 million unemployed people -- about 4.3 potential seekers per opening. The number of separations, such as quits and layoffs, fell to 4.28 million in June from 4.46 million in May. Meanwhile, the total number of hires decreased to 4.36 million from 4.46 million. The level of hires was about 5 million when the recession began.
