U.S. records lower-than-expected 7.18M job openings in July

U.S. jobs data released Wednesday showed a weakening U.S. labor market. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report showed 7.18 million job openings in July.

The JOLTS report also came in lower than the expected 7.38 million and lower than the previous report of 7.36 million in June. The BLS jobs data reached the highest level since July 2021, roughly 3.8% higher since October 2021.

2025 sees a slower U.S. job market

The US labor market is weakening:

The number of Americans not in the labor force who currently want a job is up to 6.2 million, the highest since July 2021.

These are people who are not officially part of the labor force, meaning they are not actively looking for work, but say… pic.twitter.com/aqEqaiksJ1

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) September 3, 2025

The Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that healthcare and social assistance companies cut job openings by 181,000 and retailers by 110,000. Arts, entertainment, and recreation firms also cut jobs by 62,000, while the logging industry cut jobs by 13,000.

The data also suggests that layoffs in the U.S. rose slightly. According to the report, the number of U.S. citizens quitting their jobs remained unchanged from June at 3.2 million.

Job openings have remained healthy despite a lower report, having dropped from their highest level of 12.1 million in March 2022. Job openings were at their peak in the wake of the U.S. economy roaring back from COVID-19 lockdowns.

The year 2025 has seen a slower U.S. job market amid the lingering effects of 11 interest rate hikes by the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023. The job market has also lost momentum this year because of President Donald Trump’s heightened trade wars, which have caused uncertainty in the market and led to lower hiring rates by managers.

Markets are waiting for Friday’s Non-Farm Payrolls report for August, which will show the number of employed people during the previous month. July saw 73,000 employed people, with markets forecasting a slight increase to 75,000 for August. Data firm FactSet predicted businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits added 80,000 jobs last month.

July’s job report also suggests that the U.S. has returned to demand-constrained conditions, with 55K fewer job openings than unemployed workers. Compared to June’s report, which suggested that the labor market was still supply-constrained due to 342K more openings than jobs in the U.S., Data also showed more job openings than unemployed workers for the first time since April 2021.

Dan North, senior economist for North America at Allianz Trade, said he was looking for any revisions in the JOLTS data due to the previous revisions to the May and June jobs reports. He also argued that Friday’s job employment report will be crucial because the data for the last two months was shocking. He expects this month’s employment data to be light again, similar to last month’s.

Allison Shrivastava, an economist at Indeed, argued that the JOLTS data is important because it could help increase wages, create more job opportunities, and support innovation. According to her, the opposite has largely held true for the past few months.

Trump fires BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer

The BLS report came after Trump fired Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the agency commissioner, for allegedly manipulating the monthly jobs reports for political purposes. Trump said that the previous month’s jobs data was a mistake and was rigged to make him and the Republicans look bad.

The President also argued that McEntarfer had manipulated the jobs report in the first part of the year. He believes that the U.S. economy is booming under his administration.

“Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative. The Economy is BOOMING under ‘TRUMP.’”

–Donald Trump, President of the U.S.

Trump also believes the previous BLS commissioner had faked the jobs numbers before the election. He argued that she aimed to boost Vice President Kamala Hariss’ chances in last year’s presidential election.

The White House revealed that Deputy Commissioner William Wiatrowski stepped in as Acting Commissioner until the President finds a replacement for McEntarfer. Trump also said he wants people he can trust. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said last month that the economy had beat expectations for jobs in four straight BLS labor reports.

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