Job numbers may signal hiring boost

WASHINGTON - Job openings jumped in April to the highest level in 16 months, a sign that private employers may boost hiring in coming months.

The number of jobs advertised at the end of April rose to 3.1 million from 2.8 million in March, the Labor Department said yesterday. That's the most openings since December 2008.

Private employers accounted for the entire net gain. The government's advertising for jobs decreased, despite the hiring of hundreds of thousands of census workers in May.

The department's report, known as the Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, or JOLTS, follows a disappointing employment report Friday that found private employers added only 41,000 jobs in May. Temporary census hiring accounted for 411,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent in April.

The rise in job openings "makes you a little more upbeat about the labor market," said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase.Job openings have risen by about 740,000 since bottoming out at 2.3 million in July. But they remain far below pre-recession levels of about 4.5 million openings per month.

There were five unemployed people for each job opening in April - down from 5.4 in the previous month, but well above pre-recession levels of 1.8 jobless workers per opening. The biggest increases in available jobs were in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality and education and health services. - AP