WASHINGTON D.C.: In March, U.S. employers posted a record 11.5 million job openings, as there are now two job openings for every unemployed person in the United States.

The latest data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics highlighted a very tight labor market, which has encouraged millions of Americans to seek better paying jobs, and contributed to the fasting rising inflation rate in four decades.

In March, a record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs, indicating their rising confidence in finding other work with better pay or working conditions.

Layoffs, running some 1.8 million a month before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, reached 1.4 million in March, from 1.35 million in February.

Meanwhile, an average of more than 540,000 jobs per month have been added by employers over the past year.

This week, the Labor Department is expected to announce that another 400,000 new jobs were created in April, according to a survey by the data firm FactSet, marking an unprecedented 12th consecutive month where 400,000 or more people were hired.

Despite 2020s brief but devastating COVID-19 recession, the U.S. economy and job market has unexpectedly surged during its recovery, fueled by massive government spending and very low interest rates adopted by the Federal Reserve.

However, consumer prices rose in March by 8.5 percent from one year earlier, the fastest rate of inflation since 1981. In response, the Federal Reserve Bank is raising short-term interest rates to combat inflation.

"Employees have strong job security and confidence in their ability to find new work. The labor market is still very much a job seeker's market. Something dramatic will have to happen for this to change anytime soon," said Nick Bunker of the Indeed Hiring Lab, as quoted by the Associated Press.