With that sort of competition, it pays to be aware of job trends that can affect applications.
"Housing has improved, and job trends should improve based on surveys and credit growth," Mr. Levkovich said.
Glassdoor, a job and recruiting website, has identified the 5 job trends to watch this year based on a survey conducted in December of more than 2,000 people.
"The payroll survey is the best indicator of current job trends," Kathleen P. Utgoff, the bureau commissioner, said at a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee on Friday.
That will lay the basis for Phase IV: the September-October debates, and the candidates' reactions to crises and job trends.
"The questions that I hope will reach the president will be a lot about job trends, what jobs will be available for seniors coming out of college and what initiatives are being taken to provide job opportunities," he said.
This is probably no surprise to people who have been following job trends in the United States, where the health industry has been going gangbusters in both good and bad economies.
But, jolted by the attacks, firms are reconsidering where their people should be, and how many they need.The combined effects of September 11th and sluggish growth have underlined or accelerated job trends that were already under way.
Economists were relieved that the numbers were not worse, given a string of other disappointing data in recent weeks, but noted that current job trends still left the economy far short of what it is capable of if Americans were more fully employed.
