4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in February

Job turnover remained close to record highs last month as companies continued to struggle to find workers and millions quit seeking better opportunities.

Job openings fell 17,000 to 11.266 million on the last day of February, the Labor Department said in a new report on Tuesday. Despite the second straight month of a slight decline, job openings were not too far from the record high of 11.448 million set in December.

There were more available jobs in arts, entertainment and recreation, educational services and with the federal government last month, The Labor Department also confirmed.

The number of Americans quitting their jobs inched up to 4.4 million in February, which is slightly higher than in the prior month, but below the November peak of 4.5 million. More workers quit retail, manufacturing and state and local government education jobs. Fewer people quit finance and insurance jobs.

Voluntary resignations increased across most other categories, and the overall quits rate jumped to 2.9 percent, up from January and close to November’s record high of 3 percent. The next look at the employment situation is due on Friday when the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) releases the March jobs report.

“Should Friday’s payrolls report disappoint, it is down to a lack of supply of workers to fill the jobs available rather than any issue with demand,” said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING.

“In a service sector economy, the biggest cost is your workforce. Given clear evidence of corporate pricing power this means inflation will stay higher for longer as firms pass higher costs onto their customers,” Knightley went onto say.

Economists predict that Friday’s report will show employers added 475,000 jobs in March, which would represent a reduction from the 678,000 jobs added in February.