April Job Openings Rise To Record High Of 5.38 Million

Job openings at U.S. workplaces rose to a record high of 5.38 million in April (data go back to the end of 2000) from 5.11 million in March, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Tuesday. Compared with same period in the prior year, April's job openings rose 22%, as private-sector openings increased 21% to 4.89 million, and government positions rose to 489,000 from 367,000. With 8.55 million unemployed people in April, there were about 1.6 potential job seekers per opening, below March's ratio of 1.7. In April 2014, there were about 2.2 potential seekers per opening. When the recession began in December 2007, there were about 1.8 potential job seekers per opening. The number of separations, such as quits and layoffs, dropped to 4.88 million in April from 5.07 million in March. Meanwhile, the total number of hires declined to 5.01 million from 5.09 million. The level of hires was about 5.04 million when the recession began.