Labor market bellwether

Economists project the number of available jobs in the U.S. slipped in February from the previous month.

The Labor Department is expected to report today that there were around 6.9 million job openings in February, down from 6.92 million in January. While there are signs the economy is on the mend a year after the viral outbreak struck, the number of monthly job postings nationally has yet to get back to the pre-pandemic level of at least 7 million, which had been the trend since early 2018.