US job openings soared to a fresh record of 9.3 million in April while companies struggled to find new workers as the economy continued to heat up, the feds said Tuesday.
Total openings rose by about 1 million compared to March, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS.
The 9.3 million openings is the highest level reported since the data series began in December 2000, the feds said.
That means the number of job openings in April nearly matched the 9.8 million Americans who were unemployed but searching for work in that month, according to federal data.
The leisure and hospitality sectors saw the most job growth, according to the data.
And the rate at which workers quit their jobs, seen as a sign of worker confidence in their ability to find another job, also rose to a record high in the month.
A chart shows total nonfarm job openings between April 2016 and April 2021.Bureau of Labor Statistics
Retail saw a spike in quits up to 4.3 percent from 3.6 percent in the month prior.
The rate at which workers were laid off fell to a record low, the Labor Department said.
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