U.S. JOLTS job openings fall 3.5% in August to 7.079 million

29% Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at Dig Into Tuesday's Data: Jolts, Consumer Confidence, Home Prices Tuesday offered investors an economic three-course meal, some of it bitter, much of it undercooked. The Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) measures labor market churn. Healthy churn suggests businesses are hiring and firing, and workers are willing to leave jobs for better opportunities.

Healthy churn is a symptom of a robust jobs market. 079 million. The number was 146,000 shy of economist estimates. 6%.

Despite the hiring bump, these numbers offer little evidence to rebut the widely held view—supported by months of low initial jobless claims—that the jobs market is idling in low-hire, low-fire mode. 7% lower. 9%, suggesting workers are generally unwilling to walk away from a gig amid a softening jobs outlook and economic uncertainty. "(The JOLTS) report shows a labor market that is still stuck in low gear.

Employers picked up hiring slightly, but falling job openings and flat quits show there’s still very little movement beneath the surface," says Nicole Bachaud, economist at ZipRecruiter. " The increase in hiring even as economic and geopolitical uncertainties abound matches the recent August uptick in jobs confidence, as expressed by the Conference Board (CB). But in CB's September report jobs confidence turned sour, touching its most pessimistic level since February 2021. CB's falling jobs confidence, part of its broader consumer confidence report released today (see below), could be a sign that workers are in danger of being discouraged right out of the labor force.

6% of the workforce—was good news, but it remains close to multi-year lows, dating back to when the economy was clawing its way out of the COVID abyss. So while a bump in hiring and a decrease in firing speak to a robust labor market, with fewer workers in the data pool, it looks like a Pyrrhic victory. S. 6% this month.

2 analysts expected. 6% gloomier, likely reflecting spiking gasoline prices and broader cost pressures arising from lack of progress in negotiations to end the Iran war. "Consumers’ write-in responses regarding factors affecting the economy were mostly pessimistic in September," writes Dana Peterson, CB's chief economist. ” A reminder for data geeks: a large, prolonged gap between the present situation and expectations—as seen in the graphic below—is often a harbinger of recession.

S. 2% growth analysts expected. 2% consensus. "While home prices continued to decline in real terms in July 2026, marking the 14th consecutive month of real declines, slightly lower inflation and stronger nominal home price appreciation helped narrow the gap,” writes Rebecca Kaufman, associate director of commodities at S&P Dow Jones.

Kaufman refers to the fact that home prices are lagging behind consumer prices. 8 percentage points hotter than home price growth. 8%, respectively. 3%.

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CLICK HERE Tech Props Up The Stoxx, Construction Drags Click Here Before The Bell: Rising Yields Keep Europe On Edge, French Operators Fall Click Here Our Products Could End All Human Life, Buy Our Shares Click Here JOLTS JOLTS hires and jobs confidence Consumer confidence current v expectations Case Shiller and mortgage demand ( )