The U.S. labor market added 5.4 million job openings in May, little changed from the previous month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. (Tweet this)
May's numbers were the highest since the series began in December 2000. The job openings rate for May was 3.6 percent, which was little changed for the total private and government sectors.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a total of 5.35 million job openings in May. In the previous month, the economy added 5.38 million job openings.
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Most jobs were added in non-durable goods manufacturing and in state and local governments. Job openings were little changed in all four geographic regions of the country.
The number of jobs has increased over the last 12 months with large increases in retail trade, professional and business services, and health care and social assistance. Job openings decreased over the year in mining and logging.
May hires came in at 5 million, unchanged from April. The hires rate was 3.5 percent in May.
There were 4.7 million total separations in May, also little changed from the previous month. The separations rate was 3.3 percent. Separations includes quits, layoffs and discharges, and is also known as turnover.