Job openings roared to an all-time high in June as employers scoured a tightening labor market for qualified applicants, according to a report published Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics .

Nearly 6.2 million positions were up for grabs in June, up considerably from May's 5.7 million openings and soaring past July 2016's record of 5.97 million vacancies. Leading the way were sectors like construction, professional and business services, and trade, transportation and utilities – all of which posted their highest levels of vacancies since July of last year.

Health care and social assistance openings, meanwhile, surged to an all-time high of nearly 1.14 million. Accommodation and food service employers, meanwhile, logged their third consecutive month with more than 700,000 unfilled positions – a never-before-seen feat since the government began tracking such data back in 2000.

The government sector, too, was desperately looking for workers, with its 575,000 vacancies tying the highest level the U.S. has seen since 2010.

The geographic South held the most unfilled positions at nearly 2.2 million, followed by the Midwest's nearly 1.5 million. The Northeast brought up the rear with nearly 1.06 million open jobs for the second consecutive month.

Hires edged down slightly to nearly 5.4 million. But that level still makes June the third-best month for hiring so far in 2017 and the fourth-best month since 2016 began. Some pullback was generally expected after hiring in May hit its second-highest level since the Great Recession ended back in 2009.

Manufacturing hiring managed to eclipse 300,000 for a fourth consecutive month – something the economy hasn't seen since early 2008. And professional and business services posted their best back-to-back months on record in May and June with 1.15 and 1.17 million additions, respectively.

Layoffs and discharges, meanwhile, climbed for a second consecutive month to their highest level in more than a year at 1.7 million. That's still shy of the nearly 1.8 million layoffs posted just two years ago and sits comfortably beneath pre-recessionary norms, despite the fact that the labor market has grown considerably since the early 2000s.

Through the first six months of the year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates nearly 9.9 million layoffs and discharges have been carried out, marking the best start to a calendar year the economy has seen since at least 2001.

A separate layoff report published last week by research and outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas pegged the number of new layoff announcements in June at 31,105, with another 28,307 announced in July. That July total marks the lowest the economy has seen since November, and was down 9 percent over the month and 37.6 percent over the year.

Through the first seven months of the year, Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates American employers have announced 255,307 layoffs – down 28.9 percent from the same period a year prior.

"Job cuts have slowed significantly as we reach mid-year. This month's total was the lowest July total since 23,238 cuts were recorded in July 1995," John Challenger, the company's CEO, said in a statement accompanying the report.

That's not to say layoffs are down across the board. Industries like retail have seen considerably more job cuts so far this year than they did over the same window a year prior – 46.7 percent more, to be exact, with nearly 64,000 job-cut announcements between January and July.

Government data indicate retail layoffs in June hit their highest level since February at 202,000, which also represents the second-worst month for retail discharges since September 2015.

Health care products and services outfits additionally have announced more than 21,000 layoffs for a nearly 93 percent jump on the year, according to the Challenger report.

"While we have yet to see the large-scale layoffs of previous years, especially as oil and tech rebound, the specter of a downturn is on the horizon and could spell massive cuts as we head into the fourth quarter and into next year," Challenger said.

Still, Tuesday's Bureau of Labor Statistics report contained considerably more good news than bad for the domestic economy, as Jed Kolko, chief economist at employment hub Indeed, noted there were still nearly twice as many voluntary quits – typically viewed by economists as a sign of confidence among workers that they can find alternative employment – as there were layoffs carried out in June.