The number of Americans quitting their jobs reached a record high in March, as job openings also broke previous records and gave workers a choice of more lucrative opportunities.
In its monthly Job Opportunities and Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday, the Labor Department said job openings, a measure of labor demand, rose by 205,000 to 11.5 million on the last day of March.
This means that there are now almost twice as many vacancies in the country as there are unemployed.
With opportunities galore, the number of people leaving their jobs rose to 4.5 million in March, the highest number of quits in a month since records began in 2000.
The most recent data suggests that with continued demand for workers, employers can continue to raise wages and help keep inflation uncomfortably high.
With opportunities galore, the number of people leaving their jobs rose to 4.5 million in March, the highest number of quits in a month since records began in 2000.
Employment opportunities, a measure of labor demand, rose by 205,000 to 11.5 million on the last day of March, the highest level on record.
Employment opportunities rose for the second month in a row, hitting an all-time high and beating economists’ estimates. Economists polled by Reuters expected 11 million job vacancies.
In March, the number of new employees was little changed at 6.7 million. The employment rate was unchanged at 4.5 percent. Hiring was little changed across all industries and in all four regions.
The total number of terminations, including terminations, layoffs and dismissals, rose to 6.3 million, primarily driven by an increase in voluntary resignations.
Takeoffs increased significantly in Professional and Business Services (+88,000) and Construction (+69,000). The number of quitters increased in the southern region.
Over the 12 months ending in March, hires totaled 77.7 million, and separations totaled 71.4 million, increasing net hires by 6.3 million.
These totals include workers who may have been hired and fired more than once during the year.
A “Hiring Now” sign is displayed on a job window in Salem, New Hampshire in March
Trends show that the hot job market is being driven by a decline in the labor participation rate, after many older workers took early retirement during the pandemic and stayed out of the workforce.
With more job opportunities available than people looking for work, employees quit their jobs in favor of more lucrative opportunities at record rates.
The JOLTS data is being watched closely by Federal Reserve officials, who have adopted a tough stance on monetary policy as they battle high inflation, with annual consumer prices rising at rates last seen 40 years ago.
The government reported last week that American workers’ compensation posted its biggest increase in more than three decades in the first quarter.
The Fed is expected to raise interest rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday, and is likely to start reducing its asset holdings soon.
The US central bank raised its policy interest rate by 25 basis points in March.
And to make the case for higher interest rates, the unemployment rate, at 3.6 percent, is just above the half-century low it hit just before the pandemic.
Employers also raise wages quickly, but many of those gains are wiped out by higher prices.
The ADP Special Payrolls report is due on Wednesday, and the Labor Department will release the US Unemployment Report for April on Friday.
On a worrying note for the economy, new data last week showed that the US economy contracted in the first quarter of the year, its first downturn since the early days of the COVID-10 pandemic.
The Commerce Department said US gross domestic product fell 1.4 percent in the quarter, after the trade deficit widened and companies spent less on building inventories.
It would take a second straight quarter of negative growth to officially confirm a recession, which most economists wouldn’t expect.
