Job Openings Jump To Highest Levels Since 2001

"Help wanted" signs are popping up everywhere: There were more than 5 million jobs available in the U.S. at the end of 2014, the highest number since early 2001, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Tuesday.

The number of jobs available has jumped from a low of about 2 million in the depths of the Great Recession to highs not seen since the go-go days of the dot-com boom.

That's the good news. The bad news is that there were still nearly 9 million people looking for jobs in December -- 9 million people competing for 5 million jobs. Do the math, Archimedes.

Encouragingly, 2.7 million people quit their jobs in December, though that's only about 1.9 percent of workers -- a percentage that should hopefully climb as unemployment falls.

It's a good sign when workers are telling their bosses to take their jobs and shove them, because it means those workers expect to be able to find another, better job.

The chances of that happening keep slowly improving.