My first hand observation is that many companies are still hiring. But it's much harder to get reqs for positions and the hiring is much more selective.
The hiring _can_ be selective. My group is hard to hire for (we are looking for a rare combination of skills). We had unlimited reqs before the crash. We are lucky enough to have unlimited reqs now. But we can be choosier now.
hiring requisition. Basically approved headcount to hire against. And a job description for the recruiters to post and also use as guidance for matching people to openings.