The Labor Department reported Tuesday employers advertised 3.74 million job openings in the month of March. That is the highest number of job openings in nearly four years.
This is a good sign that hiring could strengthen in the coming months but job growth itself is still lower than it needs to be. Last week, the government said employers added only 115,000 jobs in April, a sharp decline from the end of the year which was in the 250,000 range.
The decline in unemployment to 8.1% in April would be a good sign as well but the decline is most likely to the thousands of people who have stopped looking for work all together.
It is hard to say what the next jobs report will bring but right now what the economy needs is more job creation, something that hasn't increased enough since the recession.