Job openings in line with consensus in August:

JOLTS - Jobs Openings and Layover Turnover Survey

The BLS published 7.09Mn job openings for August 2026, a tad lower than the 7.225Mn consensus.

Which industries led hiring? The lower paying jobs led the charge:

• Retail - 54,000
• Leisure - Accomodation and restuarants (including food services) openings went up by 60,000
• The hiring rate ticked up to 3.3% from the previous month's rate of 3.2% as 5.192Mn were hired compared to 5.146 in July.

Where did job openings reduce?

• Professional and business services were lower by 119,000
• Health care and social assistance was surprisingly lower by 115,000 - this sector had pretty much kept 2026 alive.

Were there many quitters and layoffs?

• There were fewer quitters in August at 3.066Mn compared to 3.089 in July, with the quits ratio steadfast at 1.9%.
• Layoffs dipped as well at 1.0% v 1.1% in July, just 1.641Mn folks were laid off compared to 1.702Mn in July

As always the previous month's total job openings tally was revised from 7.271Mn to 7.3Mn.

The JOLTS report is for the previous month and may be a little dated. It had little effect on the markets today.