Job openings hit record 11.5 million in March, as workers continue to quit

Employers posted a record 11.5 million job openings in March while a record 4.5 million workers quit their jobs — more evidence of a tight labor market that has emboldened millions of American workers to seek better paying positions.

Layoffs remain below their pre-pandemic levels of about 1.8 million a month, with about 1.4 million layoffs in March, slightly higher than the 1.35 million job cuts in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

The U.S. job market is on a hot streak. Employers have added an average of more than 540,000 jobs per month for the past year. The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that the economy generated another 400,000 new jobs in April, according to a survey by the data firm FactSet. That would mark an unprecedented 12th straight month that the hiring has come in at 400,000 or more.