Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey News Release — 2013-04-09

There were 3.9 million job openings on the last business day of February, up from 3.6 million in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The hires rate (3.3 percent) and separations rate (3.1 percent) were little changed in February. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the nonfarm sector by industry and by geographic region. The number of job openings in February was 3.9 million, up from January. (See table 1.) This was the highest number of job openings since May 2008. In February, the number of openings rose in health care and social assistance, accommodation and food services, and state and local government. The number of job openings increased in the Midwest region. The number of job openings in February (not seasonally adjusted) was up over the year for total nonfarm and total private, and was little changed for government.