Employment levels have lost a net 1.4 million jobs since last April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover report released today. Over the past year, there have been 48.8 million hires and 50.2 million job separations resulting from quitting, layoffs, or other reasons.

As of the end of April, there were 3.1 million job openings, a monthly increase of 2.3 percent. The hiring rate of 3.3 percent and the separations rate of 3.1 percent did not change.

Since reaching a low point of 2.3 million job openings in July 2009, the number of openings has increased by 740,000 positions. The level of openings changed insignificantly in most industries and geographic regions, and rose in the Northeast and West.

The hiring rate of 3.3 percent has hovered from 3 percent to 3.3 percent since September 2008. The separations rate due to quitting remained unchanged for total nonfarm and private jobs at 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.