On 29 September 2026, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported 7.1 million job openings in the United States for August. The same release counted hires, quits and layoffs.
That release is the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), a monthly BLS survey of employers. This guide sets out what its counts measure, what the quits rate shows and how far JOLTS runs behind the jobs report. It also covers what the series has done since December 2000.
What is the JOLTS report? JOLTS is a monthly BLS survey of about 21,000 establishments. It counts job openings, hires and separations. Hires and separations are flows: people moving onto and off payrolls. Together they make up the net change in jobs, the monthly change in the number of jobs.
Openings: 7.1 million in August 2026, a rate of 4.3%, against a peak of 12.3 million in March 2022.
Quits and layoffs: 3.1 million quits and 1.6 million layoffs and discharges, rates of 1.9% and 1.0%.
Timing: the August figures came out on 29 September 2026, before the September jobs report on 2 October.
What JOLTS counts
JOLTS reports job openings, hires and separations. Separations are all departures from the payroll during the month. They are split into three types: quits; layoffs and discharges; other separations. Other separations are retirements, transfers to other locations, separations due to disability and deaths.
The table shows each count for August 2026.
Measure | What it counts | August 2026 | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
Job openings | Positions open on the last business day of the month | 7.1 million | 4.3% |
Hires | All additions to the payroll during the month | 5.2 million | 3.3% |
Quits | Employees who left voluntarily, excluding retirements and transfers | 3.1 million | 1.9% |
Layoffs and discharges | Involuntary separations initiated by the employer | 1.6 million | 1.0% |
Total separations | All departures from the payroll: quits plus layoffs and discharges plus other separations | 5.1 million | 3.2% |
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, August 2026 (preliminary)
An opening is a snapshot of the last business day of the month. A job counts as open only if a specific position exists with work available, it could start within 30 days and the employer is actively recruiting from outside the establishment. Hires and separations cover the whole month.
The openings rate is openings divided by employment plus openings. The hires rate is hires divided by employment. The quits and layoffs rates are counts against employment in the same way.
Our guide to what Nonfarm Payrolls count and how the payroll survey works covers the net change in jobs. JOLTS shows the movement behind it.
Hires minus separations was 122,000 in August, our subtraction of 5,192,000 and 5,070,000. BLS benchmarks JOLTS employment to the payroll survey and aligns hires minus separations with it, so that figure is not an independent second count of job growth.
Openings, hires and quits since December 2000
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS; FRED (JTSJOL, JTSHIL, JTSQUL); YX Insights
The chart shows the three levels from December 2000 to August 2026. All three fell to series lows in 2009. Openings reached 2.2 million in July 2009.
After the spring of 2020, openings climbed to 12.3 million in March 2022, a rate of 7.5%. The average for 2022 was 11.2 million, against 7.2 million in 2019.
In August 2026 openings were 7.1 million, 58% of the March 2022 peak. BLS described the August figure as little changed, although it was 256,000 below the revised July figure of 7.3 million.
Hires include rehired employees. They reached a series high of 8.1 million in May 2020. In August 2026, hires were 5.2 million, against a 2019 average of 5.8 million. The hires rate was 3.3%, against 3.9% in 2019.
Quits peaked at 4.5 million in April 2022. In August 2026 they were 3.1 million, against 3.5 million in 2019.
What the quits rate shows
BLS describes quits as "generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee". It adds: "Therefore, the quits rate can serve as a measure of workers' willingness or ability to leave jobs." Retirements are not counted as quits. BLS places them in other separations.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS; FRED (JTSQUR, JTSLDR); YX Insights
The chart plots the quits rate and the layoffs and discharges rate. The quits rate peaked at 3.0% in November 2021. It averaged 2.3% in 2019 and has stayed between 1.9% and 2.2% since January 2025. It was 1.9% in August 2026.
The layoffs and discharges rate reached 8.6% in March 2020, which is off the scale of the chart. Outside March and April 2020, it has stayed between 0.9% and 2.0% in every month since December 2000. Since January 2023 it has stayed between 0.9% and 1.2%. It was 1.0% in August 2026.
So the quits rate has fallen 1.1 points from its peak while the layoffs rate has stayed between 0.9% and 1.2% since January 2023.
Openings per unemployed person
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS and Current Population Survey; FRED (JTSJOL, UNEMPLOY); YX Insights
The chart divides job openings by the number of unemployed people in the same month. The unemployed count comes from the household survey, a BLS survey that asks people about their work, while JOLTS asks employers. The household survey also produces the Unemployment Rate.
Our Unemployment Rate guide explains how unemployed people are counted. The ratio is our calculation from the two published series.
In August 2026 there were 7.08 million openings and 7.03 million unemployed people, a ratio of 1.01. The ratio reached 2.04 in March 2022. It was 1.21 in February 2020 and averaged 0.56 from 2001 to 2019. Its low was 0.15 in July 2009.
Over the 12 months to August 2026 the ratio ranged from 0.87 to 1.06. October 2025 has no unemployed count, so the line joins the months either side.
The month of lag
The August JOLTS figures were published on Tuesday 29 September 2026. The September jobs report, which BLS titles the Employment Situation, followed on Friday 2 October. When the jobs report describes September, the latest JOLTS describes August.
Each release also revises the month before. In the August release, July openings were revised up by 64,000 and July hires were revised up by 92,000. The preliminary August figures can change in the same way.
With the January data each year, BLS revises five years of JOLTS estimates. Our guide to why economic data gets revised covers the general pattern.
JOLTS is a sample of about 21,000 establishments, so a single month carries sampling error. The charts above show each series over many months.
JOLTS counts the flows behind the net change that the jobs report publishes. Between the calendar-year averages for 2022 and 2025, job openings fell 37%, from 11.19 million to 7.08 million. Quits fell 25%, from 4.22 million to 3.17 million. Hires fell 18%, from 6.41 million to 5.24 million.
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Common questions about JOLTS
What does JOLTS stand for?
JOLTS stands for the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The Bureau of Labor Statistics runs it every month, using a stratified random sample of about 21,000 nonfarm business and government establishments. It reports job openings, hires and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by industry and by establishment size class.
What does the quits rate measure?
The quits rate puts voluntary separations, excluding retirements and transfers, against employment. BLS says it can serve as a measure of workers' willingness or ability to leave jobs. It was 1.9% in August 2026, down from a peak of 3.0% in November 2021 and below the 2019 average of 2.3%.
How far behind the jobs report is JOLTS?
About one month. The August JOLTS figures were published on 29 September 2026, three days before the September jobs report on 2 October. The latest JOLTS figures therefore describe the month before the latest payroll figures. BLS also revises each JOLTS month in the following release.
How is JOLTS different from Nonfarm Payrolls?
Nonfarm Payrolls give the net change in the number of jobs. JOLTS counts the flows behind it: openings on the last business day of the month plus hires and separations over the whole month. BLS aligns JOLTS hires minus separations with the payroll survey, so the two are not independent.
DISCLAIMER: This article is strictly educational. Any information or analysis in this note is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Nothing in this note is intended to be investment advice and nor should it be relied upon to make investment decisions. Any opinions, analyses, or probabilities expressed in this note are those of the author as of the note's date of publication and are subject to change without notice.