WASHINGTON - Four painful years after the Great Recession struck and wiped out 8.7 million jobs, the United States may finally be in an elusive pattern known as the virtuous cycle - an escalating loop of robust job growth, healthier spending and higher demand.

By LAUREN WEBER

Holiday spirits may be high, but December is no time to hit the pause button on a job search, experts say.

Al Peteroy, a senior consultant with Ambit Energy, talks to job seekers at the Occupy A Desk job fair in New York's Zuccotti Park, earlier this week.

Many job seekers take a break from the hunt in late November and December, figuring that employers are distracted by holiday parties, vacation plans, and end-of-year assignments like closing out the books, says Jane Trnka, executive director of the career development center at Rollins College's Crummer Graduate School of Business. In addition, some unemployed people simply want a respite from the often-demoralizing work of looking for a job.

But Ms. Trnka and others say the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's can be a is perhaps the most productive time of the year for a job search precisely because the competition declines so much.

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Another reason to look now: Large companies often have "use it or lose it" hiring budgets they need to spend by the end of their fiscal year, which for many firms coincides with the calendar year. "We've had facilities [such as hospitals] call us and say, 'We have $100,000 to spend for recruitment and if we don't use it this year, we don't get it next year,'" explains Sean Milius, CEO of Management Recruiters of Colorado, a health-care focused affiliate of MRINetwork. Money might go toward signing bonuses and relocation packages, Mr. Milius says.

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There's good news on the employment front. A growing number of employees are calling it quits.

In a sign that workers spooked by the Great Recession may be getting some of their career mojo back, two studies find an uptick in the number of employees resigning.

MRINetwork, one of the nation's largest recruiters, released  a survey of recruiters Tuesday that found 28 percent of the job openings employers had in January were a result of employee resignations, up from 21 percent in July of last year. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in a February report, showed that the number of workers quitting has been steadily rising since its low point in December of 2009.

Read more on the Life Inc. blog on Today.

By Paul Davidson

The job outlook is brightening for younger workers, who were hit hard in the recession and play a vital role in the economy.

Jobs for 25-to-34-year-olds increased by 116,000 to 30.5 million in February. Their unemployment rate fell from 9% in January to 8.7%, the lowest since January 2009, according to the Labor Department.

Just as important, the portion of Americans in that age bracket who were employed - known as the employment-to-population ratio - rose to 74.7% from 74.5% and is up from a 29-year low of 73.2% in July. In a normal economy, about 80% of 25-to-34-year-olds have jobs.

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In recent months, with consumer and businesses confidence improving, employers have grown more comfortable hiring younger workers, especially those who have advanced degrees, says Al Clark, president of Management Recruiters of Chattanooga, Tenn. "During the downturn, they depended on more tenured workers," he says.

Read more on USAToday.com

By Jeff Harrington

Tampa Bay has emerged as an MVP in Florida's ongoing battle to whittle down its still bloated unemployment rate.

• The bay area added 20,800 net new jobs over the past 12 months, tops among all metro areas. From January to February alone, the region is up 9,300 jobs.

• In February, the bay area's unemployment rate fell a dramatic six-tenths of a percentage point, from 10 percent to 9.4 percent.

• Unlike the state, Tampa Bay's labor pool is growing compared to both a month ago and a year ago. That means its improved jobs picture is not because more jobless have temporarily suspended their search and are no longer being counted.

Tally it up and Tampa Bay sticks out as key to the state's jobless rate tumbling from 9.6 percent to 9.4 percent in February, dipping to its lowest point in three years.

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"We've been here since 1980, and this first quarter was our best first quarter ever in the history of the business," said [Phil] Petrillo, whose company, Management Recruiters of St. Petersburg, tries to match managers with jobs in the $80,000 to $200,000 pay range.

Demand for IT positions is "through the ceiling," he says. Ditto with heavy demand for mechanical, chemical and electrical engineers.

For many mid-level managers, "it's definitely a candidate-driven market," he said. "People are more willing to make a move now where they were really hesitant to jump the last couple of years. And companies are coming up with the sizable increases in salary to make sure that happens."

Read more on TampaBay.com.

By Ruth Mantell

MarketWatch -- Networking requires strategy, research and social grace. But as competition for jobs remains high, it's easy to fumble.

"Remember that you have two ears and one mouth, and use them in proportion," says Bobbi Moss, general manager at Govig & Associates, a Scottsdale, Ariz., recruiter.

Networking is about building relationships-not simply selling yourself.

"People have talked to me for only a few minutes, and then asked if they would be the right fit for a position. That's too aggressive," says Suki Shah, chief executive of GetHired.com, a jobs site based in Palo Alto, Calif.

Here are five networking "don'ts."...

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By Ricardo Lopez

If you want to get a job in this economy, it's becoming increasingly clear that you better also be thinking about getting an education beyond just a high school degree.

The government reported Friday that the unemployment rate for college graduates fell slightly in May, to 3.9 percent from 4 percent a month earlier.

For people with just a high school degree, the unemployment rate increased to 8.1 percent, from 7.9 percent a month earlier.

The overall unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. That reflects even higher rates of unemployment among those who don't even have a high school degree.

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...The trends in the employment data aren't surprising to Jack Downing, a managing partner with the job placement firm MRINetwork WorldBridge Partners.

In the past six months or so, Downing said he's started to see such high demand for college graduates, particularly in fields such as engineering and information technology, that some candidates are fielding multiple job offers...