The number of job openings unexpectedly increased in April to the highest level since May 2024, showing that the labor market has some underlying strength.

The Tuesday morning update to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased from 6.9 million in March to 7.6 million in April. Job openings had largely declined since peaking in March 2022, with a recent low of 6.6 million notched in December.