Available US job openings rose to a record high in March amid persistent worker shortages, suggesting employers may continue to raise wages, which would help keep inflation high.
Open jobs, a measure of labor demand, rose by 205,000 to 11.5 million as of the last day of March, the Labor Department said in its monthly Jolts report on Tuesday. .
The second consecutive monthly increase took job vacancies to the highest level since the series started in 2000. Economists polled by Reuters had predicted a reading of 11 million vacancies.
The Jolts data is being closely watched by officials at the Fed (Federal Reserve), who have taken an aggressive monetary policy stance as they face skyrocketing inflation, with annual consumer prices rising at rates last seen 40 years ago.
The Fed is expected to raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage point on Wednesday and soon begin reducing its holdings of assets. The US central bank raised its key rate by 0.25 point in March.
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