Workers

Newsweek - The western part of the U.S. saw a jump in job openings even as other parts of the country reported stalled openings, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Tuesday. The states in the western region—Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming—overall saw job openings go up by 0.3 percent in February to nearly 1.9 million compared to the prior month. This change in the west came as other parts of the country saw job openings unchanged while the South, which in real terms at about 3.4 million recorded the highest number of openings, saw opportunities actually tick down by 0.1 percent. Overall, there were 8.76 million job openings across the U.S. in February at 5.3 percent, essentially the same figure compared to the previous month, the data shows. That number is down from a year ago when the rate was 6 percent.