Job Openings and Resignations Hit Record Highs in March

Employment openings in the U.S. exceeded the level of available workers by 5.6 million in March, the Labor Department reported.

According to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS a record 4.5 million people voluntarily quit their jobs, representing an increase of 152,000 from the previous month.

The job openings rate climbed to 7.1% from 7.0% in February. Hiring fell by 95,000 jobs to 6.7 million in March.

“For the economy, this points to another strong jobs report on Friday, and for workers, this means continued strong wage increases, especially for those who change jobs,” said to Reuters Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.

The level of job postings hit 11.55 million for the month set another record for data that goes back to December 2000, going up 205,000 from February.

According to analysts the covid pandemic is bringing confidence for workers to leave their current labor situations for better employment elsewhere.

The JOLTS data is closely monitored by Federal Reserve officials, who are acting more aggressively to fight sky-rocketing inflation. After the U.S. central bank raised its policy interest rate by 25 basis points in March now it is expected to further hikes.