Frank Esken has been out of work since his job as a lumber salesman was eliminated more than two years ago.

"There's just no jobs out there," said Esken, 49, whose lengthy unemployment resulted in foreclosure on his home in the Ruffsdale neighborhood of East Huntingdon. "I've been down to PA CareerLink three to four times a week" searching for jobs, he said.

The number of job openings for people like Esken declined for the second straight quarter in June, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The government's Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, or JOLTS, said there were 2.937 million job openings June 30, or 2,000 fewer than at the end of May.

Competition for job openings is steep. There were about 5.1 unemployed people for each job opening, compared to 1.8 jobless workers for each opening in December 2007, when the recession began, the government said.

In the Pittsburgh region in June, there were more than 100,000 jobless workers, state figures show. The number has topped 100,000 every month this year.

Nationwide, there were 4.25 million workers hired in June, down from 4.58 million in May. The survey found that 4.31 million employees quit, were laid off, fired or retired in June, up from 4.14 million in May.

The survey does not provide job opening data for each state. But job openings in the Northeast fell to 627,000 in June, down from 657,000 in May, but up from 584,000 a year ago.

In Western Pennsylvania, the most obvious job openings are in the natural gas industry as exploration of Marcellus shale reserves expand, said Frank Gamrat, an economist and senior research associate at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, a think tank in Castle Shannon.

"The problem is with the skill set you need. That's where education and retraining programs come into play," so people can qualify for jobs, Gamrat said.

About 212,000 jobs in the state's natural gas industry are expected to be created directly, indirectly and induced by economic activity over the next decade, according to a Penn State study funded by the Marcellus Shale Coalition.

Employers complain they have had a difficult time finding workers with technical skills necessary to work in the automated and computerized workplace, Gamrat said.

"If you don't have the skills, you can't fill the opening," he said.

In June, Esken joined 11 other unemployed workers at a five-week training program to learn skills to qualify for a manufacturing job.

They are learning welding, machining, math, electronics and how to read blueprints, as well as conflict resolution and proper behavior and appearance on the job, said James Arnold, lead instructor for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Manufacturing Boot Camp. The program is being conducted at Westmoreland County Community College near Youngwood.

"It gives them general knowledge," Arnold said. "We teach them the basic skills," and the employer "will teach them the fine skills."

One student in the training class has landed a job, and a few companies with job openings have expressed an interest in hiring graduates of the training program, said Terri Campbell, vice president of operations at the Private Industry Council of Westmoreland/Fayette Inc.

Esken said he is "praying" that when he completes the training program, it will lead to one of those jobs. "I hope to get back on my feet," he said.

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