U.S. job openings fell more than expected in February and hiring dropped to the lowest level in nearly six years, government data showed on Tuesday. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, decreased 358,000 to 6.882 million by the last day of February, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 6.918 million unfilled jobs. The job openings rate dropped to 4.2% from 4.4% in January. Hiring decreased by 498,000 positions to 4.849 million last month, the lowest level since March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.