U.S. job openings were essentially unchanged in March at 6.9 million, but hiring jumped to its strongest level in more than a year.
Concretely, employers posted 6.866 million job openings on the last business day of March, down slightly from 6.922 million in February, according to the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as JOLTS.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics described the number of openings as "unchanged" at 6.9 million. "This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by industry, and by establishment size class," the Bureau wrote.
Employers made 5.554 million hires in March, up by 655,000 from February, while the hire rate rose to 3.5% from 3.1%. That was the highest level of gross hiring since February 2024. Job openings have fallen steadily from the record 12.3 million peak reached in March 2022, when employers were trying to rebuild after the pandemic shock. Layoffs also increased in March, rising by 153,000 to 1.867 million. The layoffs and discharge rate climbed to 1.2% from 1.1% in February.
Still, total separations, which JOLTS defines as "quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations," were little changed at 5.4 million. Quits, which are defined as "generally
voluntary separations initiated by the employee," rose to about 3.2 million. The JOLTS report comes before Friday's April jobs report, which economists surveyed by the data firm FactSet expect to show a gain of 57,000 jobs and an unemployment rate holding at 4.3%.
Last year, the Federal Reserve of St. Louis estimated that the "break-even'' rate of monthly hiring was 153,000 because of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. However, St. Louis Fed economist Alexander Bick later drastically updated it to as low as 15,000.
Economists are watching the labor market closely as the broader economy faces new risks from the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which began on February 28 and has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing up prices for oil and other commodities. Reuters reported that those risks are reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged after leaving it in the 3.50% to 3.75% range last week.
Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, told the Associated Press the JOLTS report showed a "steady labor market," while warning that "this picture of the labor market will change as the economy adjusts to $100+ a barrel oil, higher inflation, possibly tighter monetary conditions and global recession starting in Asia."
