There are now a record 5 million more job openings than unemployed people in the U.S.

An increasing number of Americans quit their jobs in February, while the gap between available positions and the unemployed grew even wider, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that 4.35 million workers left in February, an increase of 94,000 from the previous month. It's also a slightly higher level as a percentage of the workforce, up to 2.9% from 2.8%.

At the same time, there were 11.27 million openings in the month, down just slightly from January. However, with the total level of those counted as unemployed contracting further to 6.27 million, that left a record 5 million more openings than available workers. There were 1.8 jobs for every person unemployed.

Education and health services had the highest level of job openings for the month, at 2.23 million, followed by professional and business services with 2.1 million, and trade, transportation and utilities with 1.86 million.

The quits level was off its November 2021 high of 4.51 million, which amounted to 3% of the overall workforce. The highest level came in trade, transportation and utilities, at 1.06 million. Leisure and hospitality, a critical proxy for the pandemic-era economic recovery, saw its quits rate unchanged at 5.6%.