When is the next JOLTS report?
The JOLTS report is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at 10:00am Eastern. Here is the next date and the schedule behind it, with what the number measures and what it does not.
The schedule
| Day | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Nov 3, 2026 | 10:00am Eastern |
What it measures
JOLTS counts the other side of the labour market: how many jobs employers are advertising, how many people were hired, how many quit and how many were laid off. The quits rate is the part worth watching, because people resign when they are confident of finding something better and stop when they are not.
What it does not say
JOLTS is not current. It reports the month before the one the jobs report just covered, so it is always a month further behind than the data everyone is already discussing. Openings are also a count of advertisements rather than of vacancies: a posting that is never filled, or is duplicated across job boards, still counts, which is why the level has been argued about far more than the direction.
Commonly confused: openings and vacancies
JOLTS counts job advertisements, not unfilled roles. A posting duplicated across job boards, or kept open with no intention of hiring, counts the same as a genuine vacancy. That is why the level has been argued over for years while the direction, and especially the quits rate, has stayed useful.
Where to look first when it lands
- The quits rate, the closest thing to a confidence survey of workers.
- Layoffs and discharges, which turn before payrolls do.
- Openings per unemployed person, the ratio the Fed has repeatedly cited.
No forecast, on purpose
There is no consensus figure on this page. Consensus is a licensed product — a survey of economists, compiled and sold by a data vendor — and we do not license it. A date with no forecast beside it is a fact. A date with an invented forecast beside it is a fabrication with a decimal point on it.