Job openings unexpectedly rose in May, reaching their highest level since November 2024, according to new government figures released Tuesday. The data arrives as investors scrutinize the labor market for signs of cooling amid ongoing speculation over when the Federal Reserve might begin cutting interest rates.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 7.76 million job openings at the end of May, up from 7.39 million in April. The April figure was also revised upward by 4,000 openings. Economists polled by Bloomberg had anticipated Tuesday’s report would show 7.3 million vacancies.
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) also revealed that 5.5 million hires were made in May, a decline from the 5.61 million reported in April. The hiring rate edged down to 3.4% from 3.5%. Meanwhile, the quits rate—a key gauge of worker confidence—rose slightly to 2.1%, up from 2% in the prior month.
Despite that uptick, both the hiring and quits rates remain near decade lows, signaling what some economists have termed a labor market in “stasis.”
“Hiring remains depressed, but that is less worrisome than it would be otherwise because layoffs continue to be low,” Oxford Economics lead U.S. economist Nancy Vanden Houten wrote in a note to clients.
This JOLTS report lands as investors closely monitor the economy for fallout from President Trump’s recently enacted tariffs. In May, signs of softening in the labor market were already emerging, with U.S. payrolls adding 139,000 jobs and the unemployment rate holding at 4.2%.
A fuller picture of the labor market is expected Thursday with the release of the June jobs report. Consensus forecasts project a slowdown in hiring, with nonfarm payrolls rising by 110,000 and the unemployment rate inching up to 4.3%.
As of Tuesday, the CME FedWatch Tool indicated markets are pricing in a 23% chance of a rate cut at the Fed’s July meeting and a 96% chance of at least one rate cut by the end of September.
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