Job openings and the level of people leaving their jobs reached records in March
Key takeaways:
- Job openings drilled a record-high 11.55 million in March, according to the Labor Department’s JOLTS report.
- Quits tallied 4.54 million, also a record showing that the labor market stays historically tight.
- The gap between open jobs and available employees struck 5.6 million, another new high.
Job openings surpassed the level of available workers by 5.6 million in March while a record number of individuals left their jobs, the Labor Department said Tuesday.
The level of job postings struck 11.55 million for the month, also a new record for data that runs back to December 2000, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. That was up 205,000 from February, and the model of an employment market is still historically tight.
At the same time, quits tallied 4.54 million, an addition of 152,000 from the last month as the so-called Great Resignation persisted.
The Covid pandemic years have seen options for workers who feel secure enough to quit their present problems for better work elsewhere.
The report adds to an inflationary concept hoped to force the Federal Reserve into a series of aggressive rate hikes, beginning with a half-percentage point move Wednesday.
During the pandemic, a lack of labor supply has provoked a salary surge, with average hourly salaries up 5.6% from a year back in March. Still, that hasn’t kept up with inflation, which has run at an 8.5% pace over the same period.