Booming American businesses are expanding at such a pace that the number of job openings -- 6 million -- has reached an all-time high, according to government statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that the rate of openings hasn't been as high since the Recession. The current percentage of openings matches the first all-time high in 2001.

A report from LinkedIn noted that there are nearly 150,000 unfilled jobs in Washington, D.C.



The Pew Research Center, which crunched the jobs numbers, said the biggest number of openings around the nation are in white collar and health care jobs.



"Nationally, workers appear to be in shortest supply in two service sectors: professional/business services and healthcare/social assistance. Both had well over 1 million job openings in April – roughly one-third more than the sector with the third-highest number, accommodation and food services. All three of those sectors had openings rates of 5 percent or higher, as did the catchall ‘other services' sector," said Pew.

The need for workers is becoming a problem in several areas, added Pew. Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com