US job openings hit fresh record high in July

The number of job openings in the US hit a fresh record high in July despite slower hiring as Americans increasingly chose to 'quit' their current employment.

According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, the number of job openings jumped at a month-on-month pace of 7.4% to reach approximately 10.93m.

Yet hiring declined by 2.1% to roughly 6.7m.

Indeed, voluntary separations, which many observers interpret as a sign of greater confidence among workers, rose by 6.6% versus June to 3.98m.

That pushed the so-called 'quits rate' higher by two tenths of a percentage point from the month before to 2.7%.