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May job openings rise to 3.64 million

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Job openings at U.S. workplaces increased to 3.64 million in May from 3.45 million in April, the U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday. Compared with the prior year, job openings rose 18% -- private openings increased 17% to 3.25 million, and government openings rose to 395,000 from 303,000. There were about 4.3 million jobs open when the recession began in December 2007. With about 12.72 million unemployed people in May, there were about 3.5 potential job seekers for each opening, down from 3.6 in April. In May of 2011, there were about 13.89 million unemployed people - about 4.5 potential seekers per opening. The number of separations, such as quits and layoffs, rose to 4.35 million in May from 4.14 million in April. Meanwhile, the total number of hires increased to 4.36 million from 4.21 million. The level of hires was about 5 million when the recession began.