Job Openings Surge To New Record Of 5.75 Million In July

Job openings rose to a new record of 5.75 million in July, from 5.32 million in June, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The government started tracking the data in Dec. 2000. The job openings rate rose to 3.9% after staying at 3.6% the prior three months. Despite the rise in job openings, hiring actually fell to 4.98 million from 5.18 million in June, as did the number of separations, which fell to 4.72 million from 4.91 million. The quits rate -- a measure of worker confidence -- stayed at 1.9% for the fourth month.