U.S. Labor Department reports record number of unfilled jobs

Orlando, Fla. — American employers are reporting a record 8.1 million available jobs, the most ever recorded by the U.S. Labor Department.

The data released Tuesday was recorded in March, which was the same period only 770,000 jobs were added to the economy—far less than economists’ expectations.

The lack of workers appears to be acting as a handbrake on the country’s economic recovery.

“We don’t have a playbook to take off a dusty shelf that says ‘this is the way this went last time and this is the way this should go this time,’” Bankrate Senior Economic Analyst Mark Hamrick tells WDBO.

Hamrick says much of the U.S. workforce laid off during the pandemic aren’t returning to their original jobs likely due to changing priorities.

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Cox Media Group