To see how rough the job market is, just check in on Hotel Palomar Chicago. Looking to hire about 100 people before it opens in the River North neighborhood next month, the business got about 1,300 resumes -- some 900 of them within the first weekend of job postings -- said Jennifer Hayes, regional director of human resources for parent Kimpton Hotels.

"We only kept the posting up a week," she said. "There's no way I would have been able to go through them all."

Finding a job got much tougher last year, as the number of available openings fell by about 25 percent and the unemployed population soared by more than one-third -- leaving more laid-off workers competing for fewer jobs.

In December, there were 6.1 unemployed workers, on average, for every available position, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday. That grew from 3.4 jobless workers per opening in December of 2008, and is almost four times the 1.7 unemployed people per opening in December 2007, when the recession began. Yet, it was a slight improvement from November, when the ratio hit 6.4 to 1, the highest since records began in 2001.

"We only kept the posting up a week," she said. "There's no way I would have been able to go through them all."

4 million -- Number hired in December 2009

4.2 million -- Number laid off, fired or who quit in December 2009

5.6 million -- Number hired in July 2006, the most recent peak.

3.9 million -- Number hired in June 2009, the lowest monthly total this recession.

6.1 -- number of jobless per opening, December 2009

3.4 -- number of jobless per opening, December 2008

1.7 -- number of jobless per opening, December 2007

6.3 -- number of jobless per opening, November 2009, the highest since records began in 2001.

2.5 million -- Job openings at end of December 2009.

3.2 million -- Job openings at end of December 2008.

4.8 million -- Job openings at end of June 2007, the peak before recession began.

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BY CHERYL V. JACKSON for SunTimes

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