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The number of manufacturing job openings in the U.S. decreased slightly in February, according to new U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

What’s going on: There were 583,000 open positions in manufacturing in February, down from 596,000 in January.

• Job openings in durable goods manufacturing, however, rose, to 361,000 in February from 348,000 in January. This number was also higher than the number of openings in nondurable goods manufacturing for the month (221,000).

Hires: The number of hires in manufacturing decreased as well.

• Manufacturers hired 330,000 workers in February, down from 383,000 in January and 435,000 a year earlier.

The big picture: Job openings in the larger economy were little changed, coming in at around 8.8 million on the last business day of February.

• Overall hires, too, were basically the same, at 5.8 million.