The number of advertised job openings rose to the highest level on record in January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Total job openings hit 6.3 million, up from 5.7 million the month before. That’s the highest number since the agency began keeping track in 2000. Private-sector openings also hit a record high.
Actual hiring, too, rose to 5.58 million in the month, making it the second-best month of the recovery for hires, behind October of last year. Around 360,000 people were hired in manufacturing, the best mark of the recovery.
Friday’s numbers come from the agency’s special Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, often referred to as JOLTS. The report is released on a one-month lag from the more frequently cited jobs report, but includes details about hiring and firing that aren’t available anywhere else. Investors and the Federal Reserve value those numbers for signs of health in labor markets.
Prospects are brighter for job seekers, if the report is any indication. There are fewer unemployed workers relative to job openings. The ratio of unemployed workers to vacancies stands at below 1.1, a historic low. Even during the days of the housing bubble in the mid-2000s, there were more jobless people for each vacancy.
