A record number of American workers quit their jobs as of the last business day in March while the number of job openings rose to an all-time high, pointing to a tight labor market as businesses struggled to hire enough workers to meet demand.
The Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) on May 3 that job openings, which are a measure of labor demand, rose 205,000 to 11.5 million on the last day of March, the highest level in the history of the data series.
The number of hires remained little changed in March at 6.7 million, while total separations—which include quits, layoffs, and discharges—edged up to 6.3 million.
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