COMPETITION FOR JOBS IS TOUGHER THAN EVER

There is an average of about 6.3 unemployed workers for every job opening, a Labor Department report indicates. There is a "jobs gap" of 10 million that needs to be filled just to keep up with population growth, economists said. "Fewer people are facing job loss, but once you have lost your job, you are in serious trouble," said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. TIME/The Associated Press