Vacancies in the US construction and leisure & hospitality industries rose strongest in October, as national recruitment activity was up 8%.

There were 3.9m job vacancies in October, finds the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from 3.6m in October 2012.

The total of 124,000 job openings in construction was up 24% over the year, while leisure & hospitality vacancies at 559,000 had risen 28%.

Only one sector, education & health services, saw vacancies drop, from 667,000 to 638,000.

• For more on the US market, see last week’s December edition of Recruiter for our Global Spotlight on the world’s largest economy – also available in text-only format online here.