The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report on Wednesday. Job openings jumped to 5.753 million in July from 5.323 million in June. It was the highest reading since the series began in December 2000.
June's figure was revised up from 5.249 million.
The number of job openings increased for total private (5.266 million) and for government (486,000) in July.
The hires rate was 3.5% in July.
Total separations declined to 4.716 million in July from 4.906 million in June.
The JOLTS report is one of the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's favourite labour market indicators.