Jun 1, 2022 - Economy

U.S. job openings are near record highs

Courtenay Brown

A "Now Hiring" sign on a Long Island store — A hiring ad on the windows of the Advance Auto Parts store in Bay Shore, New York. Photo: Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images

America's demand for workers is still hot: The number of job openings were near all-time highs and managers laid off the fewest employees on record in April, the Labor Department said on Wednesday.

Why it matters: The labor market remains tight as employers's appetite for labor outruns the pool of available workers. It's a boon for the American workforce, but a challenge for the Federal Reserve that wants to cool off the labor market to help tame soaring inflation.

By the numbers: Job openings ticked down to 11.4 million in April, close to the record high set in March (which was revised higher by 300,000, to 11.8 million job openings).

Some 4.4 million workers quit their jobs — roughly the same as the prior month, a sign that this closely-watched metric may be starting to level off, though at historically high levels.
The quits rate has soared as Americans trade up for, in most cases, better-paying jobs. The phenomenon had been particularly pronounced in the leisure and hospitality sector, but there was a drop-off in April: The quits rate fell to 5.2% in April from 5.7%.
Another industry, real estate, saw its quits rate jump from 1.9% to 3.5%.

The bottom line: There are about 1.9 open jobs for every unemployed American, down from 2 jobs in March — a sign of an on-fire labor market.

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U.S. job openings are near record highs

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