August measures use different reference periods

Health care and social assistance · seasonally adjusted · preliminary

1.359M openingsStock on the last business day
703K hiresFlow during August
467K quitsFlow during August
199K layoffs & dischargesFlow during August
Read each measure separately. A stock and monthly flows should not be subtracted or treated as a backlog.

Health care and social assistance employers reported 1.359 million job openings on the last business day of August 2026, down 115,000 from July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The decline brought openings almost back to their August 2025 level.

Employers in the combined sector separately reported 703,000 hires during August. Openings and hires should be read on their own terms: openings are a stock measured on the last business day, while hires are a flow accumulated over the month. Neither measure alone establishes a shortage or staffing pressure.

Quick read

  • Openings fell from 1.474 million in July to 1.359 million in August; the August estimate was just 7,000 below a year earlier.
  • Employers reported 703,000 hires, 467,000 quits, and 199,000 layoffs and discharges during August.
  • JOLTS counts establishment-reported positions and worker movements. It does not identify occupations, prove a shortage, or measure how long a vacancy remained open.

A stock and three flows

Job openings are a snapshot: positions that were open on the last business day of the month and met BLS criteria for active recruiting. Hires, quits, and layoffs are flows accumulated across the month. Because the measures use different reference periods, they should not be subtracted or treated as a backlog. A position may open, fill, or disappear within the month, and the industry can create new openings as it hires.

The August figures moved in different directions. Hires increased by 8,000 from July. Quits fell by 21,000. Layoffs and discharges increased by 50,000. Each estimate is preliminary, and month-to-month changes can reflect sampling and seasonal-adjustment noise.

What the fall in openings says

The 115,000 decline in openings was large enough for BLS to call it a decrease in the release. Yet the year-over-year comparison was nearly flat: 1.366 million openings in August 2025 versus 1.359 million in August 2026. That combination points to a July-to-August reset rather than a clear yearlong collapse in demand.

The openings measure covers the combined health care and social assistance sector. It does not separate hospitals, ambulatory care, nursing facilities, child care, or individual occupations. A recruiter cannot infer demand for nurses, medical assistants, or therapists from this aggregate alone.

Quits and layoffs need context

Quits are voluntary separations initiated by employees and are often read as a measure of workers' willingness to leave. August quits were 467,000, down 43,000 from a year earlier. Layoffs and discharges were 199,000, up 47,000. Those changes may signal less worker movement and more employer-initiated separation, but a single month cannot establish a durable turn.

The series also counts events rather than unique people. Someone who leaves one payroll and is hired by another can appear in both measures. JOLTS does not show whether the next job is inside the same health-care setting or occupation.

What to watch next

The next releases can show whether the month-end openings stock remains near August's level and, separately, whether the monthly hires flow changes. Explaining either pattern requires occupation, wage, geography, hours, and vacancy-duration evidence that this combined-sector release does not provide.

Methodology and limitations

MedDataUSA retrieved four seasonally adjusted JOLTS level series for health care and social assistance: openings, hires, quits, and layoffs and discharges. We compared August 2026 with July 2026 and August 2025. Levels are reported in thousands and August 2026 is preliminary.

JOLTS estimates are sample-based and revisable. Openings are a last-business-day stock; the other measures are monthly flows. The combined sector includes social assistance and cannot be mapped directly to a clinical occupation or a count of unique workers.

Sources