Data on the job market has been full of surprises lately, and they've mostly been for the better: it turns out there were more job openings in April than forecasters had expected.

That's according to a report Tuesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which showed U.S. employers had 7.4 million job openings that month, up from 7.2 million in March. That was more than the 7.1 million openings forecasters had anticipated, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report added detail to the department's previously released jobs report, which showed job creation accelerating in April, beating forecaster expectations. In addition to showing a jump in openings, employers hired 5.6 million people, the most since May 2024. Layoffs rose to 1.8 million, the highest since last October but near a historically low level.

The report, while overall upbeat, didn't do much to change the big picture of the labor market. Despite monthly ups and downs, the overall trend has been a slowdown from the post-pandemic era, when workers were in high demand. Economists expect the recent turmoil and uncertainty introduced by President Donald Trump's tariff campaign to further reduce job creation as the year progresses.

“The numbers still show a gradually slowing, but stable, jobs market,"  Robert Frick, corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in a commentary. "The leap in openings reflects normal noise in the numbers, not a surge in new positions, and the hiring rate increase isn’t a notable improvement, as that rate remains within the recent weak range.”

Many forecasters still expect a slowdown ahead.

"The data suggest that U.S. employers maintained at least enough confidence to keep more jobs open in April than they had in March, whether through careful planning, strong and adaptable supply chains and/or a good amount of luck," Allison Shrivastava, an economist for the hiring lab at job site Indeed. "But just because employers managed to skate through one month does not ensure they will be able to do so indefinitely, especially as uncertainty and volatility remain heightened."