The labor market continued to favor job seekers in April, with nearly twice as many job openings as there were Americans looking for work.
According to a report released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 11.4 million job openings in April. 4.4 million Americans quit or changed jobs — a rate close to a 20-year high. Meanwhile, only 1.2 million Americans — an all-time low — were laid off.
In other words, if you don't like your job, you can probably find a better one. But if your boss doesn't like you, there's no guarantee she can replace you with someone better. "We're still very much in a worker's and job seeker's market," economist Nick Bunker told The Washington Post.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Unemployment dropped to 3.6 percent, its lowest point since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Monday, President Biden claimed that the "job market is the strongest since the post-World War II era" with "millions of Americans getting jobs with better pay."
Not everyone was so optimistic about the report. The conservative Heritage Foundation warned that worker shortages "will translate into reduced services, limited supplies of goods, longer wait times, and potentially travel delays or cancellations this summer."
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.