In addition, the ratio of unemployed persons to each job opening has consistently held steady at three to one.

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Both the number of unemployed persons, at 11.7 million and the unemployment rate were little changed in March, BLS said today.

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The number of unemployed persons edged lower, to 12 million.

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Data compiled by Winship show that, for the past 60 years, the ratio of unemployed persons to job openings typically dipped below 1:1 during economic expansions, rarely exceeded 2:1 even during recessions, and never reached 3:1.

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Rich DeFalco, president of West Cooper Asset Management, pointed out that the labor statistics also show that the number of unemployed persons is still at 14.0 million, essentially unchanged in September, and the unemployment rate is 9.1% percent.

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As of July of this year, there were 6, 945, 000 persons unemployed for more than 15 weeks, with 5, 185, 000 unemployed for 27 weeks or more.

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From December 2007 to August 2009 the percentage of persons in the labor force unemployed for 15 weeks or more rose from 1.6 percent to 5.1%.

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