Job Openings Near Record High at Start of 2022

New York, NY, March 10, 2022-Demand for workers remained close to a record high at the start of the year despite the disruptions of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, another sign of a muted impact of the variant on the U.S. economy, reports the Wall Street journal

“The Labor Department on Wednesday said there were 11.3 million job openings in January, down slightly from the previous month’s revised 11.4 million-a new high. The number of times workers quit their jobs fell slightly to 4.3 million while hiring remained at 6.5 million at the start of the year.

“Separate private-sector figures showed that employers had more than 10.8 million openings at the end of February, according to job search site ZipRecruiter, a slight increase from the prior month’s estimate. Indeed, another job-search site, estimates there were 10.7 million job openings in mid-February. The Labor Department numbers lag behind private-sector data by about a month.

“Last year, workers quit their jobs at the highest rate on records back to 2000, the Labor Department said. That shows Americans were willing to leave employment in search of better wages or more desirable perks, including remote work, economists say.”