The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report on Tuesday. Job openings climbed to 4.998 million in January from 4.877 million in December. That was the highest level since January 2001.
December's figure was revised down from 5.028 million.
Analysts had expected job openings to rise to 5.030 million.
The number of job openings rose for total private (4.523 million), while decreased for government (475,000) in January.
The hires rate was 3.5% in January.
Total separations declined to 4.821 million in January from 4.901 million in December.
The JOLTS report is one of the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's favourite labour market indicators.