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GovJOLTSTue, Sep 29 · 10:00 AM ET

Job openings fell 3.5% to 7.08 million in August

Openings were still above the 6.92 million recorded a year earlier in August 2025, even after the monthly drop.

Macro Bullseye · · Updated

US job openings fell to 7.08 million in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. That was down 256,000, or 3.5%, from 7.34 million in July.

The numbers

Aug 2026 data · released Tue, Sep 29

Job openings
7.08MJul 2026: 7.34M
Job openings, last 24 months

View the data as a table
Job openings, last 24 months
PeriodValue
Aug 20267.08M
Jul 20267.34M
Jun 20267.18M
May 20267.54M
Apr 20267.59M
Mar 20266.89M
Feb 20266.92M
Jan 20267.24M
Dec 20256.55M
Nov 20256.85M
Oct 20257.17M
Sep 20257.17M
Aug 20256.92M
Jul 20257.09M
Jun 20257.20M
May 20257.31M
Apr 20257.10M
Mar 20256.95M
Feb 20257.24M
Jan 20257.43M
Dec 20247.30M
Nov 20247.57M
Oct 20247.38M
Sep 20246.94M

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis). Revised figures replace earlier ones.Full release

Openings stood above the year-earlier level of 6.92 million in August 2025. The monthly count was 7,079,000 in August, compared with 7,335,000 in July.

Over the past year, openings moved in a range from 6.55 million in December 2025 to 7.59 million in April 2026. They were 7.54 million in May and 7.18 million in June before rising to 7.34 million in July.

The report measures job openings, hires, quits and layoffs across the US. The next release, covering September, is due Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at 10:00 AM ET.

What it means for your money

  • Openings show how hard employers are looking for workers. Fewer openings can mean workers have less leverage when asking for raises or changing jobs.
  • A high quits rate usually goes with stronger pay growth, because people feel confident they can find a better job. Watch that measure alongside openings to judge paycheck prospects.

Drafted by AI (Claude) from the official data and published only after an automatic check that every number in the text matches the figures above. Not investment advice. How we write these