Federal Job Openings Hit Peak Since October 2024

The pullback in openings stands alongside a thin supply of idle workers. The ratio of openings to unemployed workers moved back above 1.0 in April after dipping under that mark in March. June is the third straight month with more openings than unemployed workers, and the surplus of 265,000 is the largest since January 2025's 566,000. June's openings-to-unemployed ratio was the highest since that same month.

Turnover data went the other way. Hires rose by about 80,000 to 3.232 million in June, following a 110,000 gain in May. Quits, the voluntary-departure measure that functions as a worker-confidence gauge, climbed by nearly 100,000 to 5.348 million from 5.252 million.

By the survey's construction, hires net of separations feed the payrolls estimate. May's 57,000 payroll gain was consistent with that math even though the JOLTS-implied number was softer. JOLTS lags the payrolls report by a month, so the June snapshot offers only an indirect read on Friday's report, which covers July. The Labor Department releases the July employment report at 8:30 a.m. ET that day.