US job openings rebound in March, hiring little changed

[WASHINGTON] US job openings rebounded sharply in March, while the pace of hiring was little changed, pointing to a growing worker shortage that could slow employment growth this year.

Job openings, a measure of labour demand, surged by 346,000 to a seasonally adjusted 7.5 million, the Labour Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, on Tuesday. There was an increase in vacancies in the construction and transportation industries.

The job openings rate rose to 4.7 per cent from 4.5 per cent in February. Hiring was little changed at 5.7 million in March.

The economy created 263,000 jobs in April, with the unemployment rate dropping two-tenths of a percentage point to 3.6 per cent, the government reported last Friday.

REUTERS