WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers advertised fewer jobs in August than the previous month, a sign some may have pulled back on hiring plans in the face of wild stock market swings and renewed recession fears.

Companies and governments posted 3.1 million job openings in August, down from 3.2 million in the previous month. July's openings were the highest in nearly three years.

Still, there's heavy competition for each job. Nearly 14 million people were out of work in August, which means an average of 4.6 unemployed workers competed for each opening. That's worse than July, when the ratio was 4.3. In a healthy economy, the ratio is roughly 2 to 1.

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