U.S. Job Openings Surge to 7.6 Million in April, the Highest in Nearly Two Years, Defying Fears of an AI-Driven Slowdown

The American labor market roared back into focus on Tuesday as the Labor Department reported that job openings climbed to 7.6 million in April, the highest level in nearly two years and a forceful rebuttal to predictions that artificial-intelligence layoffs were quietly hollowing out hiring.

The figure, drawn from the monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, marked an increase of 731,000 from March and sailed past the 6.86 million that economists had expected. It was the strongest reading since mid-2024 and a 4.6% jump in a single month — the kind of swing that rarely shows up in a survey meant to track gradual shifts in employer demand.

Nearly the entire gain came from one corner of the economy. Professional and business services posted 668,000 additional openings, pushing the sector to its highest point in three years. Hires and total separations each eased slightly, to 5.1 million and 5.0 million respectively, while quits and layoffs barely moved — a portrait of a labor market that is neither overheating with churn nor cracking under stress, but simply demanding more workers.

The data landed at an awkward moment for the Federal Reserve. Central bankers have spent the past year shifting their anxiety away from labor-market weakness and toward inflation stoked by tariffs and soaring energy prices tied to the conflict in the Middle East. A labor market that refuses to loosen gives the Fed less room to cut rates, and futures markets quickly nudged the odds of a December hike above 60% in the hours after the release.

Wall Street took the news in stride, even cheered it. The S&P 500 closed at 7,609.78, its fourth consecutive record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 51,307.79 and the Nasdaq Composite at 27,093.90. Oil, which had spiked above $92 a barrel on Middle East jitters, eased about 1% as traders weighed the possibility of a diplomatic breakthrough.

Not everyone is sanguine. The Shiller cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio, a closely watched gauge of long-term valuation, closed at 42.78 — the second-highest reading in more than 150 years of recorded data, trailing only the 44.19 peak reached at the height of the dot-com bubble in 1999. Readings above 30 have historically preceded major drawdowns within 12 to 24 months. For now, though, a strong jobs report and record indexes have left bulls firmly in control, even as the ground beneath the rally looks, by some measures, more stretched than at almost any time in living memory.