Labor Report Shows Job Openings Increased in April

Following last week’s disappointing jobs report, the Labor Department reported Tuesday that the total number of job openings in April rose to the highest level in 16 months.

According to the report, the number of jobs advertised increased to 3.1 million in April, which is up from 2.8 million in March. The Associated Press reports last month’s figure is the most openings since December 2008.

Even with the increase in openings, actually landing a job is proving difficult to many. The Labor Department reported that, on average, there were five unemployed people for each job opening in April. The AP notes that while it’s better than the 5.4 reported in March, it remains well above pre-recession levels of 1.8 jobless workers per opening.

The sectors with the biggest increases in available jobs were in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality and education and health services.