NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Job openings have plummeted and layoffs have accelerated rapidly during a downward trend in employment that continues to spiral, according to a government report released Tuesday.

December 2008 saw 2.7 million job openings, down 35% from July 2007, the starting point of the downward trend, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

The report also showed that layoffs in December were up 58% from a year earlier, and the percentage of workers quitting jobs dropped to only 40% of total separations in December.

That's a record-low number: a sign that people are nervous about changing jobs in the current labor market.

Job openings rate: The report included a job openings rate, an indicator that compares the nation's job openings to the total number of jobs plus the number of openings.

In December it fell to 1.9%, the first time it has been below the 2% mark since the report began in 2000. That's a sharp decline from the opening rate of 2.8% the previous year.

The retail trade sector was particularly hard-hit, as job openings fell to 305,000 in December from 386,000 in November. Education and health services openings fell to 553,000, down from 604,000 the previous month.

Hiring rate: New hires were down 900,000, or 19%, from the previous year. The report said no industry or region experienced a significant change in the hires rate in December, as the grim economic outlook continues to weigh on the job market.