JOLTS Job Openings in United States

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is the primary US measure of unmet labour demand. Unlike the unemployment rate, which counts workers seeking jobs, JOLTS counts the vacancies employers are actively trying to fill — making the two series complementary halves of labour market slack.

• Survey scope: ~21,000 nonfarm business and government establishments, sampled separately from the payroll survey
• Coverage: December 2000–present, seasonally adjusted
• Release schedule: Typically about five weeks after the reference month
• Definition: A position is a job opening if it is open on the survey reference date, could start within 30 days, and the employer is actively recruiting for it

Job openings collapsed from 6,966K in February 2020 to 4,606K by April 2020 as the pandemic hit, then rebounded to an all-time high of 12,301K in March 2022 — a level most economists regard as the clearest signal of the post-pandemic hiring squeeze, when employers competed for workers who had left or shifted roles during COVID-19. Openings have since cooled steadily, averaging 7,208K in Q1 2025 and 7,590K in Q2 2026, a range that sits above pre-pandemic norms but well below the 2022 extreme.

For rate-setters and market participants, the level and direction of job openings matter as much as the unemployment rate itself: a falling vacancy count alongside stable unemployment is typically read as a sign that labour demand is cooling without triggering layoffs — the kind of gradual adjustment most Fed communications since 2023 have described as the preferred path back to balance.