Job openings at highest level since 2007

Job openings climbed to an almost seven-year high in April as employers sought more workers to help manage stronger demand in a rebounding economy.

The number of positions waiting to be filled in the United States rose by 289,000 to 4.46 million in April, the highest since September 2007, the Labor Department reported Tuesday in Washington. The pace of firing also rose.

The figures, which are among nine labor-market measures monitored by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, corroborate other data that show further improvement in the job market. Payrolls have climbed by an average almost 214,000 workers a month so far in 2014 compared with about 204,000 at the same point last year.

'Job openings are a measure of the demand for labor, so in general, you like to see a rising trend,” said Ryan Wang, an economist at HSBC Securities USA.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, adds context to monthly payrolls data by measuring dynamics such as resignations, help-wanted ads and the pace of hiring. Although it lags other jobs data by a month, the figures are tracked by Yellen as a measure of labor-market tightness and worker confidence.

Tuesday's figures showed the number of people hired was little changed at 4.71 million in April, keeping the hiring rate at 3.4 percent, compared with an average 2.8 percent during the previous expansion.