U.S. job openings rise, but restaurant vacancies fall, JOLTS says

The U.S. labor market looked busier in April, but not uniformly so. Job openings rose by 731,000 to 7.6 million, the highest level in nearly two years, yet vacancies in accommodation and food services fell by 74,000. For McDonald’s crews and managers, that split matters: a headline increase in openings does not automatically mean restaurants are getting easier to staff, or that shifts are filling faster at the store level.

The broader JOLTS report showed a market that is still moving, but not especially fluid. Hires fell by 419,000 to 5.1 million, while quits held at 3.0 million and the quits rate stayed at 1.9%. Economists described the backdrop as a slow-hire, slow-fire environment, with uncertainty still weighing on employers. The biggest jump in openings was concentrated in professional and business services, which accounted for roughly 91% of the increase, underscoring how uneven the month was across industries.

That unevenness is especially important inside restaurants, where staffing problems show up as harder-to-cover shifts, thinner schedules, and more pressure on existing crews to absorb the slack. When openings rise nationally but food-service vacancies decline, operators are not necessarily in a hiring boom. They can be more selective about who gets brought in, how quickly new hires are onboarded, and whether extra labor hours are even available. For hourly workers hoping for more shifts, faster advancement, or an easier path to getting hired, the national number can be misleading.

McDonald’s has been trying to project the opposite message. The company said on May 12, 2025, that it and its franchisees planned to hire up to 375,000 employees in U.S. restaurants that summer, while also aiming to add 900 new U.S. restaurants by 2027. With about 800,000 people working in its U.S. restaurants, that hiring target amounted to close to half the domestic workforce, though the company said much of it reflected turnover as well as growth and new restaurant development.

The chain has also leaned on retention and advancement as part of that pitch. McDonald’s said Archways to Opportunity had invested more than $240 million since 2015 and helped more than 90,000 crew members earn diplomas, get tuition assistance, learn English, or receive career advising. Meanwhile, Indeed Hiring Lab said openings at employers with 5,000 or more workers were 81% above pre-pandemic levels in April, a reminder that large employers are still seeing a different labor picture than smaller ones. For McDonald’s franchisees, that leaves the same old tension in place: more labor-market activity does not always mean easier staffing, steadier hours, or a broader ladder up.