CLARKSBURG, W.Va. - For the first time on record, the number of job openings exceeds the number of job seekers.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, a record 6.7 million jobs were available in the U.S. during the month of April. up one percent from 6.6 million in March. That's the most since records began in December 2000.

Steady economic growth has encouraged employers to step up their hiring practices. Last month, the unemployment rate reached an 18 year low of 3.8 percent.

Senator Shelley Moore Capito said, "This economy is roaring. We have the lowest unemployment that we have had in decades.  We have created a million jobs since the tax bill was created. I think it is, quite honestly, a reaction to President Trump's policies and those of us in the Congress who voted for tax reform." 

Analysts said the development could give an advantage to workers seeking pay raises.

Here are some statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly jobs bulletin:

  • Overall, the U.S. economy in May created 223,000 new jobs, 17.4 percent more than the 190,000 positions that economists anticipated.
  • The unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent, tying the figure for April 2000. To find a lower rate of joblessness, one would have to dig back nearly half a century, to December 1969, when the unemployment rate hit 3.5 percent under President Richard Nixon.
  • The total number of Americans employed stands at 155,474,000 — a record.
  • May’s unemployment rate for black or African American was 5.9 percent, lower than April’s figure of 6.6 percent.
  • For Hispanic or Latin Ethnicity, unemployment was at 4.9 percent, also a record low.
  • Among adult women — joblessness fell to 3.3 percent, a figure last seen 65 years ago, in 1953 — under President Dwight Eisenhower.
  • For those who never graduated high school, unemployment was 5.4 percent last month: higher than November’s 5.2 percent, but down from April’s 5.9 percent.
  • Job openings are now at 6.6 million, another record.

Coal mining saw 3,300 jobs added, up 6.6 percent during that interval. Mining overall saw 63,000 more positions, up 10.1 percent. 332,000 more manufacturing jobs were added, up 2.7 percent, to the highest level since December 2008, according to the White House. And 401,000 more people work in construction, up 5.9 percent, to a mark not achieved since June 2008.