News & Insights

Job openings for manufacturing fell by 71,000 to 439,000 in February. On the other hand, the January job openings level of 510,000 was revised upward from 495,000 in the previous report. Nondurable goods job openings in February declined 39,000 to 141,000, while durable goods job openings decreased 32,000 to 298,000. The manufacturing job openings rate dropped to 3.4% from 3.9% in January but rose from 3.1% the previous year. The rate for nondurable goods manufacturing fell 0.7 percentage points to 2.9% and 0.4 percentage points to 3.7% for durable goods manufacturing.

In the larger economy, the number of job openings dropped to 6.9 million, a decline of 358,000 from January and 360,000 from the previous year. The job openings rate edged down to 4.2% from 4.4% in both January and February 2025. This data reflects an overall labor market that has eased back to pre-pandemic levels, but remains relatively tight from a historical perspective.

The number of hires in the overall economy decreased 498,000 to 4.9 million in February and 387,000 from the previous year. The hires rate for the overall economy edged down 0.3 percentage points in February to 3.1%. Meanwhile, the hires rate for manufacturing stayed the same at 2.3%, but fell from 2.4% in February 2025. The hires rate for durable goods edged down 0.1 percentage point to 2.0%, while the hires rate for nondurable goods stayed the same at 2.6%.

In the larger economy, total separations, which include quits, layoffs, discharges and other separations, declined 173,000 from January to 5.0 million and 314,000 from the previous year. The total separations rate ticked down 0.1 percentage point to 3.1% for the overall economy but stayed the same for manufacturing at 2.3%, down from 2.5% the year prior. Within that rate, layoffs and discharges decreased by 21,000 in February for manufacturing, while quits rose by 13,000. The quit and layoff rates continued to remain lower for manufacturing than the total nonfarm sector.