Econ Note: Job Openings Hit 16-Month High

The Labor Department announced that new job openings hit a 16-month high in April. The number of job openings rose to 3.1 million, up 740,000 from March and well above the cyclical low of 2.3 million in July 2009, according to the monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

Virtually all of the increase in job listings came from the private sector, especially welcome news given fears that governmental hiring for the Census was accounting for the majority of new hiring. Government job listings decreased in April.