"2009 was the year of fear."
So says John Salt, director at the recruitment website Totaljobs.
A year of fear on the jobs market, for both employers and employees.
"Many firms have tended to be very conservative in their staffing decisions," he says.
These conservative decisions - job cuts, recruitment freezes - have helped push the unemployment rate in the UK up to 7.9%, with almost 2.5 million people out of work.
Competition for jobs has inevitably increased. At the end of 2008, Totaljobs was receiving about five applications for every job posted. A year later, that figure had almost doubled.
So if 2009 was the year of fear, what's in store in 2010?
Austerity, according to John Salt.
"A sense of cautious optimism is now building," he says.
For anyone looking for any "green shoots" of recovery in the latest unemployment statistics, there may be a glimmer hope.
Although unemployment is still increasing, the rate at which it is doing so is slowing.
bbc