Job openings spiked in April, but employers seem unlikely to kick their low-hire habit

It’s undisputed that April showers bring May flowers, but the jury is still out on whether April job postings bring May hires.

Job openings rose to their highest levels in nearly two years, according to the April job openings and labor turnover survey (JOLTS) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, published Tuesday. However, intent to hire isn’t necessarily guaranteed to materialize, as hires and total separations continue to decline, signaling continued selectivity from employers.

Diving into the data. Employers posted 7.6 million job openings in April, a significant jump from the 6.9 million posted in March. Openings in April were up over half a million year over year, and were the highest recorded since May 2024, when there were around 7.8 million openings. Professional and business services reported the largest spike in job openings, increasing by 668,000 month over month, while finance and insurance saw the steepest drop, posting 135,000 fewer vacancies.

At the same time, though, total hires fell to 5.1 million in April, declining over 400,000 from March, and down 275,000 year over year. The only industries to report an increase in hires were arts, entertainment and recreation—which saw the largest monthly increase in hires, adding 25,000 between March and April—construction, mining and logging, durable goods manufacturing, and government.

Quits, meanwhile, fell to 3 million in April, declining 183,000 from March, and layoffs and discharges fell to around 1.7 million, declining 192,000 in the same period. The hiring rate in April was on par with that during the post-Great Recession early 2010s, while the quit rate was similar to 2015 levels, according to Daniel Zhao, Glassdoor’s chief economist.

“These point to a job market that is seeing unusually low churn, which means less mobility and opportunities for workers to move upward,” Zhao wrote on LinkedIn.

Zoom out. Isaac Hagen, SVP of emerging verticals and sales excellence at ManpowerGroup, noted that job openings rising in April aligns with what his firm is seeing on the ground, noting, however, that a spike in hires isn’t guaranteed to follow.

“Openings show intent, which is great. We’re seeing greater intent at scale to hire,” he said, adding, “but hires show commitment, so until you see the hires go up, you just have this intent improving faster than commitment.”

Employers have been much more selective when hiring, causing the time to hire to bloat. This selectiveness has been particularly prevalent among employers hiring for white-collar roles, according to Hagen, due to layoffs and lower demand, as well as AI changing the needed skills.

That trepidation is notable in professional and business services. Despite job openings rising significantly in professional and business services, turnover in the sector has slowed. Total hires for the industry fell to 933,000, declining by 131,000 from March, while total separations (including quits and layoffs and discharges) declined by 147,000 within that same period.

That said, employers can’t take this approach forever. It won’t always be possible to acquire desired talent, particularly as labor shortages worsen. Employers inevitably will have to accept that the talent and skills they want will have to be developed, whether that’s reskilling and upskilling existing workers, or new recruits.

“This is a time in which employers should be very proactive around some of the skill evolution and organizational change that they know they should make,” Hagen said. “You don’t have to get everything perfect, just get the talent in and start thinking about skills and development more than perfection. I think that’s what is slowing down some of the hiring in the industry.”