Financial Times headline: Record 4.5mn US workers quit jobs in March as labour market tightens
Subheadline: The number of job openings reaches high of 11.5mn as employers struggle to fill positions
“Despite job openings seemingly plateauing for the last few months, the new record high indicates demand for workers is clearly still red hot,” said Daniel Zhao, an economist at jobs site Glassdoor.
Concerns over the public health situation and childcare responsibilities have kept some Americans from returning to the labour force since the start of the pandemic, leaving job openings outpacing the number of Americans actively looking for work. In March, there were 1.9 jobs available for each unemployed worker, far above the pre-pandemic ratio, which was 1.2 in February 2020.
Retailers drove the surge in job openings, posting some 155,000 new positions in March. Workers in low-wage sectors have been the biggest beneficiaries of the tight labour market, economists say, and have had the most opportunities to switch jobs.