Job openings dipped while hiring rose in June
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The U.S. labor market remained on a solid trajectory in June, as employers cut back on the number of job postings but increased their rate of hiring.
Driving the news: That's the upshot of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey issued Tuesday morning, which affirms a basic resilience in the job market also evident across a range of indicators.
- Fears of mass job loss as a result of AI or other developments simply haven't come true midway through 2026.
By the numbers: The number of job openings fell 178,000 in June, to 7.36 million. The rate of job openings edged down as well, to 4.4% from 4.5%. But that's better than what the indicator was showing as recently as March.
- Employers hired 96,000 more people in June than in May, pushing the hiring rate up a tick.
- The rate of people losing their jobs — both from voluntary quits and involuntary layoffs and separations — was unchanged at low levels.
The intrigue: Consistent with the evident strength in some interest-sensitive sectors, the sharpest increases in the hiring rate were in construction (from 3.4% to 3.9%) and durable goods manufacturing (2.2% to 2.7%).
- It suggests the data center boom and other momentum in the industrial economy are generating more job opportunities.
