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Job openings for manufacturing rose by 19,000 to 462,000 in March. At the same time, the February job openings level of 443,000 was revised upward from 439,000 in the previous report. Nondurable goods job openings in March increased 10,000 to 162,000, while durable goods job openings moved up 9,000 to 300,000. The manufacturing job openings rate inched up to 3.5% from 3.4% in February and 3.0% the previous year. The rate for nondurable goods manufacturing ticked up 0.2 percentage points to 3.3% and 0.1 percentage point to 3.7% for durable goods manufacturing.

In the larger economy, the number of job openings stayed relatively stable at 6.9 million, a decline of just 56,000 from February and 86,000 from the previous year. The job openings rate edged down to 4.1% from 4.2% in both February and March 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 jumped 655,000 to 5.6 million in March and 221,000 from the previous year. The hires rate for the overall economy increased 0.4 percentage points in March to 3.5%. Meanwhile, the hires rate for manufacturing climbed to 2.5% from 2.2% in February and 2.4% in March 2025. The hires rate for durable goods ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 2.1%, while the hires rate for nondurable goods jumped 0.5 percentage points to 3.1%.

In the larger economy, total separations, which include quits, layoffs, discharges and other separations, rose 356,000 from February to 5.4 million and 90,000 from the previous year. The total separations rate inched up 0.2 percentage points to 3.4% for the overall economy but edged down 0.1 percentage point for manufacturing to 2.2%, down from 2.5% the year prior. Within that rate, layoffs and discharges decreased by 9,000 in March for manufacturing, while quits rose by 3,000. The quit and layoff rates continued to remain lower for manufacturing than the total nonfarm sector.