As the economy gradually recovers, some big U.S. companies are cranking up their recruiting and advertising thousands of job openings, ranging from retail clerks and nurses to bank tellers and experts in cloud computing.

Many of the new jobs are in retailing, accounting, consulting, health care, telecommunications and defense-related industries, according to data collected for The Wall Street Journal by Indeed Inc., which runs one the largest employment websites. It said the number of U.S. job postings on the Internet rose to 4.7 million on Dec. 1, up from 2.7 million a year earlier. The company daily collects listings from corporate and job-posting websites, removing duplicates.

Its figures may undercount available jobs because some companies don't post all listings online, an Indeed spokesman said. Farming, manufacturing, and construction jobs tend to be under-represented in online postings, while skilled computer and mathematical jobs are overrepresented, said June Shelp, an economist and vice president for the Conference Board, a private research group.

To be sure, the postings data offer only a partial and unofficial look at the labor market. Job losses in the recent recession have been much worse relative to output declines than in previous slumps, and official payroll data so far haven't shown signs of a big rebound in hiring. While some big companies are expanding, others are merely replacing workers who are retiring or otherwise moving on. And many of the available jobs require experience and technical expertise that few job seekers can muster. Jobs that don't are still seeing a flood of applicants for each opening.

New claims for unemployment benefits fell just 3,000 last week to 420,000, indicating a slight slowing of job losses. A Wall Street Journal survey of 55 economists in early December showed they expect only moderate job growth in 2011, enough to reduce the unemployment rate to a still-high 9% at the end of 2011 from 9.8% last month.

But companies are racking up profits and now have built strong cash positions, and may be ready to hire again. As consumer confidence revives, the economy should continue a gradual recovery that encourages more companies to hire, says Robert A. Dye, a senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburgh. There is still a lot of spare capacity in the economy, so 'some companies, particularly auto makers, can continue to see increasing sales without hiring many more workers,' he says.

Government data show a rising trend in openings. There were 3.2 million private-sector job openings at the end of October, up from 2.3 million a year earlier but well below the 3.7 million in October 2007, before the recession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

随着经济逐渐复苏，一些美国大公司正加快招聘步伐，登出了数千个空缺职位的招聘广告，涵盖了从零售店员、护士、银行出纳到云计算专家的范围。

据Indeed Inc.为《华尔街日报》收集的数据，许多新职位都集中在零售、会计、咨询、医疗保健、电信和防务相关的行业。Indeed管理着一家大型招聘网站。它说，12月1日时发布在网络上的美国就业岗位数量增加到470万个，高于一年前的270万个。该公司每天都对公司网站和招聘网站上发布的就业岗位进行汇总，并删除其中重复的部分。

Indeed的一位发言人说，数字可能少计入了一些空缺职位，因为一些公司不会把所有招聘职位都发布到网上。私人研究机构世界大型企业联合会(Conference Board)副总裁、经济学家舍尔普(June Shelp)说，网上的农业、制造业和建筑业岗位数量通常被说少了，实际要更多一些，而计算机和数学这些需要娴熟技能的岗位数量则在网上被夸大了，实际需要的岗位并没有那么多。

可以肯定的是，通过搜集网上招聘信息得来的数据只是对劳动力市场片面、非官方的看法。与前几次的衰退相比，最近这场衰退中的失业情况比经济产值下降的情况更加糟糕，目前为止官方的就业数据也没有显示出招聘出现大幅回升的迹象。尽管一些大公司正在扩张，但其他公司仅仅是在取代那些退休或是跳槽的员工。空缺职位中有很多都对应聘者有经验或是技能上的要求，很少有求职者能够满足这些条件。而对没有这些条件限制的职位来说，每一个岗位都有大量应聘者为之竞争。

上周的首次申请失业救济人数仅下降3000人，至42万，表明失业率仅仅略有放缓。本报12月初对55位经济学家的调查显示，他们预计2011年就业率仅会温和增长，这足以使失业率在2011年底时降至9%，尽管这一水平依然很高。上个月的失业率为9.8%。

不过企业的利润正持续增加，如今的资金状况也更加充裕，它们也许准备重新开始招聘。匹兹堡PNC金融服务集团(PNC Financial Services Group Inc.)的资深经济学家戴伊(Robert A. Dye)说，随着消费者信心的恢复，经济应该会继续渐渐复苏，这将促使更多公司进行招聘。他说，经济中仍有大量的闲置产能，因此有些企业，尤其是汽车生产商可以不用新招太多工人而让销量继续增加。

政府数据显示空缺职位数量有上升的趋势。据美国劳工部统计局，10月底时私人领域的空缺职位为320万个，高于上年同期的230万个，但却远低于2007年10月、也就是衰退前的370万个。