Job openings hit a record high March as businesses still struggle to find workers

• US job openings reached a record 11.5 million in March, according to JOLTS data released Wednesday.
• That's up from the 11.3 million seen the month prior and above the forecast for 11 million openings.

The US labor market remained historically imbalanced through March as employers struggled to match a limited number of available workers with outsize job openings.

The number of job openings totaled a record 11.5 million at the end of March, according to Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday. That's up from the 11.3 million seen at the end of February. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected openings to decline to 11 million through the month.

Retailers led the uptick, with businesses in the sector adding 155,000 job openings through the month. Durable goods manufacturers followed with an addition of 50,000 openings.

Openings fell the most among transportation, warehousing, and utilities companies, with such firms shedding 69,000 openings in March. The state and local government education sector erased 43,000 openings, and the federal government posted a 20,000-opening decline.

Over the past year, the monthly JOLTS report has become the go-to release for tracking the labor shortage and its intensity. Job openings surged to record highs throughout 2021 and have since stabilized at levels nearly twice as high as the pre-pandemic norm. Yet the number of Americans looking for work recovered at a much slower clip, leaving the labor market with a massive gap between supply and demand that's persisted into 2022.

The Tuesday report signals the imbalance isn't easing anytime soon. The ratio of available workers to job openings dropped to 0.5, meaning there were about two openings for every American looking for work in March. That compares to the pre-crisis average of about an equal number of openings and unemployed workers. It also tends to take years after a recession for the labor market to tighten so much, while only two years have passed since the mass layoffs and furloughs at the beginning of the pandemic.

Much of the problem comes from the tepid recovery in labor force participation. While the economy has recovered about 93% of all the jobs it lost during the pandemic, there are still millions of once-working Americans still sitting on the sidelines and not seeking out work. The labor force participation rate rose to 62.4% in March, marking the highest reading since the health crisis began but still an entire percentage point below early 2020 levels.

Plenty of those already in the labor force aren't staying put. Quits hit a record 4.5 million in March, marking the tenth consecutive month that more than 4 million Americans walked out of their jobs. The wave of widespread quitting, informally deemed the Great Resignation, signals workers feel comfortable enough amid record-high openings to switch jobs in pursuit of higher pay or better working conditions.

The trend also compounded pressure on firms to keep raising wages. Companies surveyed for the Federal Reserve's Beige Book reported having to boost pay just to retain their current payroll.

Some of that has already shown up in wage-growth data. Worker pay rose the most since at least 2001 through the first quarter, data published Friday showed. But while nominal wages continue to surge, the labor shortage and Great Resignation haven't been enough to beat inflation. Inflation-adjusted pay fell 3.7% in the year through March, offering workers a stark reminder that, even amid the strongest bargaining power in decades, soaring prices are still hammering their wallets.