US Job Openings Fall to 6.88 Million in February

U.S. job openings dropped sharply in February to 6.88 million, the lowest level in months, while hiring fell to its weakest pace since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figures, from the monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, highlight a cooling labor market even before escalating conflict in the Middle East, including the war in Iran, introduced new economic uncertainties.

The decline in vacancies marked a decrease of 358,000 from January's revised total of 7.24 million, which had been the highest since May of the previous year. Economists had anticipated around 6.92 million openings. The job openings rate slipped to 4.2 percent from 4.4 percent in January. Hiring totaled 4.85 million, down 498,000 from the prior month, pushing the hires rate to 3.1 percent of total employment, the lowest since April 2020 and the weakest outside the pandemic period since 2011. This represented the steepest one-month drop in hiring since 2016, excluding pandemic disruptions.

Layoffs and discharges rose modestly to 1.72 million, an increase of 61,000, though the rate remained low at 1.1 percent,...