us employers advertised fewer jobs in october but hiring picked up economyhiring increased in october report says 8 2015united states employers advertised fewer jobs in october though overall hiring picked up and people quitting rose slightly adding to evidence that the job market is slowly improvingthe number of job postings fell 27 percent to a stillhealthy 54 million in october compared with the previous month the labor department said tuesday in its job openings and labor turnover survey that figure is not far from julys record high of 57 millionhiring increased to 51 million the most since june and the number of people quitting their jobs a sign of confidence in the job market rose to 278 million still that figure has been mostly flat this yeareven with the drop in job openings the data suggests companies are still seeking more workers the number of available jobs has increased 11 percent in the last year that suggests businesses are still confident enough in future demand to increase their staffs despite drags from slower overseas growththe report is broadly consistent with our view that the labor market will continue to improve but that the rate of job growth will moderate somewhat in the coming quarters said daniel silver an economist at jpmorgan chasejanet l yellen the chairwoman of the federal reserve is said to closely monitor the openings hiring and quits figures as the fed moves closer to raising shortterm interest rates most analysts expect the fed to move at its meeting next weekother surveys indicate that companies intend to keep hiring at a solid clip early next year the staffing agency manpowergroup said in a separate report tuesday that 20 percent of 11000 employers it surveyed expected to add workers in the first quarter of 2016the companys hiring index reached the highest level for a first quarter since the beginning of 2007 just before the recession the manpowergroup saidrising quits can also help broadly lift wages that is because most people quit their jobs when they have another one lined up usually at higher pay more quitting also forces companies to provide raises for their existing workers to keep them from leavingquits plummeted to just 16 million in august 2009 two months after the recession ended as americans clung to the jobs they had the figure has rebounded since then but remains below the prerecession level of about 29 millionthe data comes after last fridays robust jobs report which showed that employers added 211000 jobs in november and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5 percentthose figures are a net total jobs gained minus jobs lost the data reported tuesday is more detailed calculating total hires as well as quits and layoffs