Employers posted a record 11.5 million job openings in March and the United States now has an unprecedented two job openings for every person who is unemployed.
The latest data released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Labor further reveals an extraordinarily tight labor market that has emboldened millions of Americans to seek better paying jobs, while also contributing to the biggest inflation surge in four decades.
A record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in March – a sign that they are confident they can find better pay or improved working conditions elsewhere.
Layoffs, which has been running around 1.8 million a month before the pandemic hit the economy in early 2020, ticked up to 1.4 million in March from 1.35 million in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.
Among the layoff announcements last month was the biggest in Tennessee in more than two years in Meigs County where Waupaca Foundry said it will idle its melt, molding and core room production at its Etowah automotive foundry by June 14, ending 540 jobs at the plant. Waupaca is offering displaced workers jobs at its other foundries around the country, however.