U.S. job openings soar to record 8.1 million, but businesses can't find enough workers - MarketWatch

There were 7.5 million open jobs in February.

Read: A record number of small businesses can’t find enough workers to hire.

Some contend that extra government unemployment benefits have given people less incentive to take a job.

The Biden administration in March approved $300 in extra federal benefits each week to unemployed workers as part of a massive $1.9 trillion stimulus.

Chamber of Commerce to call for the end of federal unemployment benefits.

A handful of Republican-led states have also reinstituted rules requiring people to look for jobs, and at least one plans to stop providing the federal stipend to the unemployed.

Read: Some states are cutting unemployment payments to push people back to work — are extra benefits really keeping Americans out of the labor force.

The Biden administration, for its part, said there’s little evidence unemployment benefits are dissuading people from taking jobs.

Not every industry was looking to hire more workers.

About 6 million people were hired in March, but that still left more than one in four job openings unfilled.

The gap between available jobs and the number of people hired has widened dramatically in the past four months.

Yet it could be a challenge until most schools, day-care centers and nursing homes fully reopen and extra federal benefits expire.

For example, Chipotle said it’s increasing wages for employees as it seeks to hire 20,000 more people.