June Job Openings Fell to 7.36 Million as Healthcare Vacancies Posted Biggest Drop Since Last Summer

Job openings in the United States dropped to 7.36 million in June, down from a revised 7.54 million in May, according to the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released Tuesday, August 4. The job openings rate ticked down to 4.4% from 4.5%.

The drop was concentrated in one place: healthcare and social assistance. Openings in that sector fell by 147,000, the largest decline since July 2025, according to Reuters. That single sector accounted for 83% of the total decline in job openings last month, ZipRecruiter labor economist Nicole Bachaud told HR Brew.

Leisure and hospitality also lost ground, with 86,000 fewer openings, mostly at hotels, restaurants and bars. Reuters noted this likely reflects the fading boost from the recently concluded FIFA World Cup tournament. Openings rose at retailers, in financial activities, in construction, and in durable goods manufacturing.

Hiring and quits both ticked up

Despite fewer openings, hiring actually increased. Hires rose to 5.348 million from 5.252 million in May, an increase of 96,000, according to Reuters. Healthcare led the hiring gains even as its openings shrank, while hiring at hotels, restaurants and bars fell by 77,000.

The quits rate, watched closely as a measure of worker confidence, rose to 2% in June, up from 1.9% in May, according to Breitbart. Workers generally quit when they think they can find something better, so a rising quits rate signals more confidence, not less. In the private sector, the quits rate hit 2.2%.

Reuters reported quits were essentially flat at 3.2 million with layoffs steady at 1.8 million, while Breitbart cited the quits rate itself climbing to 2% from 1.9%. Both can be true at once, since the rate and the raw count are different measures. The discrepancy underscores a real problem with this report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics itself has flagged that JOLTS response rates have declined considerably, according to Reuters, meaning the government is drawing broader conclusions from a shrinking pool of respondents.

One opening per unemployed worker

The report shows roughly one job opening for every unemployed American, a ratio the Federal Reserve treats as a