U.S. job openings hit two-year high as hiring stays subdued

Job openings held near a two-year high in May even as hiring stayed stuck at 5.2 million, sharpening the labor market’s central contradiction: employers are still advertising jobs, but they are not filling them quickly. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said vacancies rose to 7.594 million, the highest since May 2024, while the hires count was unchanged and total separations barely moved.

The May 2026 JOLTS release, published June 30 at 10:00 a.m. ET, showed a labor market that is still steady but far from overheated. The openings rate was 4.6%, the hires rate 3.3%, the quits rate 1.9% and the layoffs-and-discharges rate 1.1%. There were 1.04 job openings for every unemployed person, with 7.307 million people unemployed in May, little changed from April and slightly above the prior year.

That balance helps explain why the report is being read less as a sign of strength than as evidence of caution. Employers still have demand for workers, but the steady hires figure suggests many openings are not turning into payroll growth at the pace seen in stronger expansions. For job seekers, the market still offers opportunities, but the edge has shifted away from the frantic, worker-driven conditions that pushed quits and wage gains higher earlier in the cycle.

The details across industries were uneven. Openings rose by 71,000 in wholesale trade, while hires increased by 11,000 in federal government and quits there rose by 4,000. Layoffs and discharges fell by 42,000 in arts, entertainment and recreation. At the same time, healthcare and social assistance, a critical source of employment growth, saw fewer openings.

Quits remain one of the clearest signs of fading worker confidence. Indeed Hiring Lab said the quits rate has now been at or below 2% for almost a year, well below pre-pandemic norms and far under the 3% peak reached during the Great Resignation. That backdrop points to less pressure on employers to raise pay aggressively to retain staff, even if openings remain elevated.

The Federal Reserve is likely to read the report through an inflation lens as much as a labor-market one. In its June 16-17 Summary of Economic Projections, the Fed kept the median 2026 unemployment-rate forecast at 4.3% and the median 2026 PCE inflation projection at 3.0%, signaling that policymakers still see both labor resilience and price stability as live issues. A stable but subdued hiring picture gives the central bank less reason to rush toward emergency support for employment.

There is also a statistical caveat. Economists have warned that the JOLTS response rate has been falling, and the BLS said it added response-rate series to the public database starting with January 2026 data released on March 13. One estimate cited by economists put the share of contacted businesses participating at 24%, down from 35% two years ago, raising concerns that the headline openings number may be harder to read than usual.