(NEW YORK) — At the end of March, there were almost as many job openings as unemployed people in the U.S., according to the Labor Department.
Data released on Tuesday showed about 6.55 million jobs that need to be filled, and seasonally adjusted data from last week revealed there were about 6.585 million total unemployed.
The U.S. government defines “unemployed” as “people who are jobless, actively seeking work and available to take a job,” according to the Labor Department’s website.
A year earlier, there were approximately 5.607 million jobs available at the end of March.
The unemployment rate in April declined to 3.9 percent — the lowest since 2000 — after resting near 4.1 percent for six consecutive months. It was about 4.4 percent in April 2017.
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