Labor Market by Industry
BLS JOLTS industry series for Jul 2026. The national job-openings rate is 4.4% and the quits rate is 1.9%.
How to read this page. BLS publishes industries as a hierarchy, not as mutually exclusive peers. The first table lists top-level sectors only (no double-counting). The second table lists detail subsectors, each row names its parent so you do not mistreat a child total as a peer of its parent. Total nonfarm and Total private aggregates are omitted from both lists because they span every sector.
Top-level sectors
Mutually exclusive major industries ordered by job openings (11 sectors).
| # | Sector | Openings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Private education and health services | 1.6M |
| 2 | Trade, transportation, and utilities | 1.3M |
| 3 | Professional and business services | 1.1M |
| 4 | Government | 810K |
| 5 | Leisure and hospitality | 783K |
| 6 | Manufacturing | 580K |
| 7 | Financial activities | 401K |
| 8 | Construction | 326K |
| 9 | Other services | 291K |
| 10 | Information | 96K |
| 11 | Mining and logging | 22K |
Detail subsectors
Child series nested under the sectors above. Ordered by openings within this detail set only, do not compare a row here to its parent in the sector table.
| Subsector | Parent sector | Openings |
|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | Private education and health services | 1.4M |
| Retail trade | Trade, transportation, and utilities | 731K |
| State and local | Government | 702K |
| Accommodation and food services | Leisure and hospitality | 673K |
| State and local government, excluding education | State and local | 451K |
| Durable goods manufacturing | Manufacturing | 429K |
| Transportation, warehousing, and utilities | Trade, transportation, and utilities | 316K |
| Finance and insurance | Financial activities | 285K |
| State and local government education | State and local | 251K |
| Wholesale trade | Trade, transportation, and utilities | 224K |
| Nondurable goods manufacturing | Manufacturing | 151K |
| Real estate and rental and leasing | Financial activities | 116K |
| Private educational services | Private education and health services | 116K |
| Arts, entertainment, and recreation | Leisure and hospitality | 110K |
| Federal | Government | 108K |
Browsing PlainLabor by Industry
The industry index follows the BLS JOLTS hierarchy. Top-level sectors are mutually exclusive peers. Detail subsectors nest under those parents and must not be ranked against them in the same list, that would double-count openings (for example, Health care and social assistance inside Private education and health services).
Reading Industry-Level Data
Aggregate industry numbers are most useful for trend-spotting and comparative framing; they are less useful for decisions about a single employer, contractor, or facility. A high industry-average does not mean every record in the industry sits at the average, and a low industry-average does not mean outliers are not present.
Classification Drift Over Time
Industry classifications change over time. We use the latest available JOLTS industry labels as of the last data refresh, and we publish the refresh date on each industry page. For historical analyses where continuity of classification matters, consult the raw source data linked from the methodology page.
Editorial Independence
Our industry coverage is dictated by the dataset and by visitor demand, not by advertisers or commercial partners. We do not accept paid placement in the industry index.
Download the BLS JOLTS state snapshot cited on this page: jolts-labor-market-statistics.csv (CC0).
Every figure on PlainLabor is rendered from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS); no number is typed in by an editor. Sector and detail tables stay in separate peer groups so openings are not double-counted across the BLS hierarchy. See our editorial standards and corrections policy, methodology, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-09-15. JOLTS figures are employer-survey openings and turnover rates for a published reference month - not job-quality rankings, hiring recommendations, or real-time vacancy postings.