Job openings fall to 3 million in April (by Ruth Mantell)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Job openings at U.S. workplaces fell to 3 million in April from 3.1 million in March, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. Overall job openings were almost unchanged from the prior year, with private openings up 11% to 2.7 million. Meanwhile, government openings were down by 51% to 315,000 from the prior year when there were hundreds of thousands of openings for temporary Census workers. There were about 4.4 million jobs open when the recession began in December 2007. With about 13.8 million unemployed people in April, there were more than four potential job seekers for each opening. The number of separations, such as quits and layoffs, ticked down to 3.7 million in April from 3.8 million in March. Meanwhile, the total number of people hired in April remained at 4 million.