The latest jobs report data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows fewer job openings on the last day of February but also an uptick in the number of people voluntarily leaving their job. The data, tracked for the month of February, showed there were 9.9 million job openings nationwide, a decrease of 630,000 or 6% from the previous month.
Professional and business services, healthcare, and transportation were the three sectors seeing the largest decline in openings, according to the report. The number of hires bumped slightly in February, with a little more than six million people taking a job.
Conversely, the number of separations from the workforce changed by 5.8 million people who either quit, were laid off, or left for other reasons. The overall separation rate was a slight change from January, but the number of people quitting their job specifically rose to four million when 146,000 walked away from work.