The Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that the number of total non-farm job openings in June fell to 7.44 million. Hiring was down for both construction jobs and real estate jobs, although employment grew in both categories.
Overall hiring slows but employment still grows
Total non-farm JOLT data since January 2016 is shown in the first chart, below.
Job openings were reported to be down 275,000 openings month-over-month. In addition, the openings figure for May was revised lower by 57,000 openings, so the June openings figure is 332,000 lower than the initial level reported for May last month. However, total job openings are up 25,000 openings from their year-ago level. In addition, June’s job openings figure is still above the levels reported for March and April and is less than 1 percent lower than that reported for February, so May’s openings report seems to be more of an anomaly than June’s.
Hiring was reported to be down by 261,000 jobs from last month’s revised (-38,000) figure for the economy as a whole, falling to a level of 5.20 million hires. This is the lowest level reported since June of last year.
Total separations fell 153,000 from last month’s revised (-29,000) figure to a level of 5.06 million. Within total separations, quits were reported to fall 3.9 percent while layoffs fell 0.4 percent. Quits represented 62.1 percent of total separations for the month, only slightly above the trailing 12-month average of 61.7 percent.
The June job openings figure represents 4.4 percent of total employment plus job openings. For comparison, the unemployment rate in June was reported to be 4.12 percent and 7.02 million people were unemployed. Another 6.46 million people said that they would like a job but were not counted as being in the labor force since they were not actively seeking employment.
For a discussion of the JOLT report and how it relates to the Employment Situation Report, please see the paragraph at the end of this article.
The excess of hiring over separations in the June JOLT report indicates an employment increase of 144,000 jobs for the month. Last month’s employment increase was revised to 252,000 jobs, down by 9,000 jobs from the gain reported last month.
Of those leaving their jobs in June, 3.14 million quit voluntarily, while 1.60 million people were involuntarily separated from their jobs. The remainder of people leaving their jobs left for other reasons, such as retirements or transfers. The portion of people quitting their jobs fell 0.1 percentage point from last month’s figure to 2.0 percent of the labor force. The involuntary separations rate was unchanged from last month’s figure at 1.0 percent.
Construction hiring and separations both fall
The next chart, below, shows the employment situation for the construction jobs market over the last 49 months. It shows that June saw a net gain of 12,000 construction jobs. Last month’s preliminary loss of 7,000 construction jobs was revised to a reading of no change in the number of jobs. The JOLT data now indicate that construction employment has risen or been unchanged for 3 consecutive months after 2 months of declines.
The preliminary job openings figure for June was reported to be up by 14,000 openings from last month’s revised (-13,000) figure at 246,000 openings. Openings were reported to be down 13.7 percent from last year’s level and were reported to represent 2.9 percent of construction employment plus job openings.
Hiring was reported to be down by 7,000 jobs in June from the prior month’s revised (-3,000) jobs figure to 351,000 new hires. The number of construction jobs that were filled in June 2025 was reported to be up 44.0 percent year-over-year, but last June’s hiring figure was the lowest since the pandemic shutdowns.
Construction jobs total separations were reported to be down by 19,000 jobs from the prior month’s revised (-10,000) figure to 339,000 jobs.
Quits were reported to fall by 19,000 jobs from May’s revised (-9,000) figure to a level of 155,000 jobs. Quits represented 48.1 percent of separations for the month, well below the figure for the economy as a whole.
Layoffs were reported to fall by 4,000 from last month’s revised (-1,000) figure to 163,000 jobs.
“Other separations” which includes retirements and transfers, were reported to be up 4,000 at 21,000 jobs.
RERL hiring and separations both lower
The last chart shows the employment situation for the real estate and rental and leasing (RERL) jobs category. Employment in this jobs category was reported to be up 10,000 jobs for the month. RERL employment has risen every month for the past year.
The number of job openings in the RERL category was reported to fall to 98,000 jobs at the end of June. This is the lowest level of RERL job openings since October 2021. The RERL job openings figure was 4,000 openings lower than the unchanged level reported for the month before. RERL job openings were down 10.1 percent from their year-ago level. Job openings in the RERL category represent 3.8 percent of total employment plus job openings, down 0.1 percentage points from the level in last month’s report.
Hiring in June was reported to be down by 9,000 jobs from last month’s revised (-1,000) figure at 67,000 jobs. The hiring figure was down 5.6 percent from the level of the year before.
Total separations in the RERL jobs category in June were down by 12,000 from May’s revised (-3,000) figure at 57,000 jobs.
Quits were reported to be down 14,000 from May’s revised (-1,000) figure at 26,000 jobs. This was the lowest number of quits since August of last year. Quits represented 49.1 percent of total separations. Layoffs were reported to be up by 3,000 jobs from May’s revised (-2,000) figure at 28,000 jobs.
The numbers given in the JOLT report are seasonally adjusted and are subject to revision. It is common for adjustments to be made in subsequent reports, particularly to the data for the most recent month. The full current JOLT report can be found here.
Comparing the reports
The US labor market is very dynamic with many people changing jobs in any given month. The JOLT report documents this dynamism by providing details about job openings, hiring and separations. However, it does not break down the jobs market into as fine categories as does the Employment Situation Report, which provides data on total employment and unemployment. For example, while the Employment Situation Report separates residential construction from other construction employment, the JOLT report does not. The Employment Situation Report separates residential property managers from other types of real estate and rental and leasing professionals, but the JOLT report does not. However, the JOLT report provides a look at what is driving the employment gains (or losses) in broad employment categories.
