U.S. job openings fall in April, hires drop to series low

U.S. job openings dropped to 5.05 million in April, while hires fell to 3.5 million, a series low. Not since 2014 have there been so few jobs available, noted Wells Fargo in a research report.

While the data released is not surprising in the midst of the lockdowns in April, there were not too many indications here of the much better than expected outturn in the May jobs report.

Total separations dropped to 9.9 million in April, down sharply from more than 14 million in the prior month, but above normal. The growth obviously is from the sharp rise in layoffs.

“The latest jobless claims numbers are due out Thursday morning. While these numbers are getting “less bad,” it is still tough to reconcile elevated continuing claims figures with net hiring in the millions in May”, added Wells Fargo.