Chart: Job openings by month over the past 8 years

On the last business day of March, job openings in the U.S. numbered 2.7 million — the lowest job openings level since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began measuring job openings more than eight years ago.

[Chart data—TXT]

The number of job openings has trended downward since mid-2007, and, at 2.7 million in March, the number of monthly job openings was down 2.1 million (or 44 percent) since the most recent high point in June 2007.

The decline in job openings was due to a significant decline in retail trade, and small declines in nearly every other industry.

This data is from the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, and is seasonally adjusted. Data for March 2009 is preliminary and subject to revision. More information can be found in "Job Openings and Labor Turnover: March 2009," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 09-0507.