By Ruth Mantell WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Job openings at U.S. workplaces ticked down to 3.62 million in December from 3.79 million in November, the U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday. Compared with same period in the prior year, December's job openings rose 2% -- private openings increased 2% to 3.26 million, and government openings also rose 2%, reaching 360,000. There were more than 4 million jobs open when the recession began in December 2007. With about 12.21 million unemployed people in December, there were about 3.4 potential job seekers for each opening, compared with a ratio of 3.2 in November. In December of 2011, there were about 13.05 million unemployed people -- about 3.7 potential seekers per opening. The number of separations, such as quits and layoffs, fell to 4.07 million in December from 4.22 million in November. Meanwhile, the total number of hires decreased to 4.19 million from 4.4 million. The level of hires was about 5 million when the recession began.

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