WASHINGTON — U.S. employers posted nearly 7.6 million open jobs in January, near a record high set in November. It’s evidence that businesses are still hungry for workers despite signs the economy has slowed.
The Labor Department says hiring also rose and the number of people quitting their jobs picked up.
The number of open jobs now outnumbers the unemployed by roughly 1 million. In the 18 years that the data has been tracked, there were always more unemployed than job openings until last year.
Openings have fallen slightly to 7.58 million since the record high of 7.63 million in November. The data was sharply revised this month to show that there were more open jobs late last year. Before the revisions, the record had been 7.3 million openings in January.
