Job openings in US hit record high

Job openings in the U.S. hit a record high in March with 6.6 million jobs advertised, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Tuesday.

The Labor Department, which has been tracking job openings since 2000, said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary that total job openings increased by 7.8 percent, or by 472,000 openings, in March compared to the previous month.

The largest job openings increased in professional and business services, construction, transportation, warehousing and utilities, according to the data.

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The quit rate, which is viewed as a measure of how confident people are to leave their jobs for a new one, also rose slightly to 2.3 percent, with 136,000 more in March than February. Hires also decreased slightly from 5.5 million in February to 5.4 million in March.

The job openings in March matched the number of people unemployed, which is highly unusual as the unemployment rate has historically been higher, The Associated Press noted. 

Shortly after the Great Recession in July 2009, there were 6.7 unemployed Americans on average for every job opening. In March, that rate fell to 1 unemployed for every job opening.