How many job openings are there in the United States?
Updates published monthly
About 7.2 million, as of August 2025. The number of job openings decreased by 422,000 from August 2024. A “job opening” is defined as a position open on the last business day of the month. To be considered “open,” a job must meet three conditions: (1) There’s work available for the position; (2) The job could start within 30 days; and (3) The employer is actively recruiting.
7.2M
job openings (August 2025)
422K
fewer unfilled jobs in August 2025 than in August 2024
The number of job openings is one measure of employer demand for workers and is a commonly referred-to economic indicator. An increase in the number of job openings often indicates the economy is growing, while a decline may indicate slowed growth.
The number of job openings declined over the last year.
Monthly job openings (seasonally adjusted), December 2000–August 2025
Monthly job openings trended upwards from a low of 2.2 million in July 2009, the end of the Great Recession, through a peak of 7.6 million in November 2018. In February 2020, one month before the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 7.0 million job openings, which fell to 4.6 million in April. Job openings bounced back, hitting a record high of 12.1 million in March 2022 before again trending downwards. As of August 2025, job openings are down 5.5% from the year prior.
The job openings rate is another way to consider this data. It tells us what percentage of all jobs, filled and unfilled, were open during a given time period. This allows for better comparisons across time, industries, and places by adjusting for differences in the size of the working population.
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In August 2025, 4.3% of all jobs were unfilled, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from the average across the previous 12 months.
In August 2025, the job openings rate was highest in the leisure and hospitality industry.
August 2025 (seasonally adjusted) job openings rate and Aug. 2024–July 2025 average job openings rate, by industry
The job openings rate varies across industries, which experience different economic pressures. In August 2025, the rate was highest in the leisure and hospitality (6.0%), information (5.5%), and private education and health services (5.3%) industries. It was lowest in construction (2.2%). Compared to the previous 12-month average, the job openings rate fell most in the construction industry (-0.8 percentage points), and increased most in the information industry (+0.6 percentage points).
Job openings rates also differ across states for a host of reasons, including the strength of the regional economy and the dominating industries. In July 2025, the rate ranged from a low of 3.4% in Washington, DC to Oklahoma’s high of 5.5%.
The July 2025 job openings rate was highest in Oklahoma.
Seasonally adjusted job openings rate by state, July 2025
Layoffs
In August 2025, the layoff rate was highest in the construction industry.
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
The analysis was generated with the help of AI and reviewed by USAFacts for accuracy.
