The number of job openings in August reached a seasonally adjusted level of 4.835 million, up from the revised 4.605 million in July, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, according to Reuters.

Officials in the Federal Reserve have said they are monitoring the JOLTS report as they discuss when to raise interest rates. Job openings are a good indicator of labor demand.

U.S. employers hired 4.64 million people in August, down from 4.934 million in July, but the August figure was still 27 percent higher than June 2009, when the labor market was at its weakest during the recession.

The quits rate again held steady at 1.8 percent. It is used as a measure of the number of people who voluntarily leave their job and is used to measure how confident employees are that they can find a better job. The rate hasn't changed in seven months.

A different report from the Labor Department released Friday showed that U.S. employers added 248,000 jobs in September. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.9 percent, the lowest level in six years.

"The job market remains healthy," Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., told Bloomberg. "Job openings have some indicative power beyond just one month ahead. It probably isn't decisive, but it does tell you conditions are going to be pretty good for hiring in the fourth quarter."

If conditions continue to improve throughout the fourth quarter, it could boost the entire labor market.

"As the economy recovers you're going to get people spending more discretionary income, like taking vacations or going out to restaurants," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates, Inc. He added that, over time, other jobs will be created and wages will start to increase.