Report: Job openings declined in April, still unusually high

June 1 (UPI) -- The Labor Department said Wednesday that job openings decreased by 455,000 in April, but still hovered at atypical highs.

The monthly Jobs Openings and Labor Turnover Survey said the employment openings fell to 11.4 million by the end of April while 4.4 million quit their current jobs during the month.

Despite the drop in job openings, the 11.45 million jobs were still higher than the 9.4 million jobs available at this time last year.

Health and social assistance saw the biggest drop in job openings, making up for more than half of the decrease with 266,000 fewer jobs available. Retail trade saw 162,000 fewer jobs while accommodation and food services experienced a 113,000 decrease in openings.

There were 97,000 more jobs listed in the transportation, warehousing, and utilities sector followed by another 67,000 more jobs in nondurable goods manufacturing. Durable manufacturing had 53,000 more jobs than the month before.

Employees made 6.6 million hires in April, which was unchanged from March.

Those voluntarily leaving jobs did not change from the 4.4 million reported the previous month, the report said. Real estate, rental and leasing saw the biggest increase in quits, up 37,000, while state and local government education saw 19,000 fewer quits.

"The labor market remains strong even though things are cooling off a bit," said Nick Bunker, an economist at the jobs site Indeed told The Washington Post. "We're still very much in a worker's and job-seeker's market."