3.5 Million Job Openings in February

According to the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), there were 3.5 million job openings as of the last business day of February in the United States.

This number is up substantially from February of 2011 (3.01 million openings) and slightly up from January of 2012.

According to the BLS, of the 3,498,000 job openings in the United States as of the last business day of February, 3,125,000 were in the private sector and 373,000 were government positions.

Let's break down the private job openings by sector:

Construction - 84,000
Manufacturing - 253,000
Trade, transportation and Utilities - 599,000
Professional and Business Services - 691,000
Education and Health Services - 654,000
Leisure and Hospitality - 418,000
Government - 373,000

Now, the job openings by region:

South - 1,398,000
Midwest - 766,000
West - 702,000
Northeast - 632,000

Source: BLS.gov - Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary

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