What is in the JOLTS job openings report
The Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys about 21,000 business and government establishments each month. It publishes five main lines: job openings, hires, total separations, quits, and layoffs and discharges.
A job counts as open when a specific position exists, the work could start within 30 days and the employer is actively recruiting from outside. Openings are counted on the last business day of the month; hires and separations cover the whole month.
Each line also comes as a rate. The openings rate is openings divided by employment plus openings, and the other rates are divided by employment.
Why JOLTS moves the dollar
Many openings for each person looking for work mean employers compete for staff, which pushes up wages and, in time, prices. The Fed watches that balance, so a clear change in openings shifts the outlook for rates and the dollar with it.
Quits are the other line to watch. People leave jobs more often when they are confident of finding a better one, so a falling quits rate points to a cooling jobs market and less pressure on wages.
How to read JOLTS against the forecast
The report looks a month further back than the payrolls report that usually comes out the same week, so the market reads it as background more than news. It moves the dollar most when openings land far from the forecast or confirm a turn already seen elsewhere.
Openings can swing a lot from one month to the next, and the latest month is a preliminary figure. The trend over a few months, and the quits and layoffs rates, say more than one reading.
What the US dollar did on the last release days
Measured on our own prices: the US dollar against the basket of the eight majors, from the London opening before the release to the one after it, so the release sits inside the window. Anything else that came out between those two openings is in it too, so a day with more news says less about this release alone.
| Release | Amsterdam | Measured | USD vs basket |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Sept 2026 | 16:00 | 29 Sept to 30 Sept | -0.03% |
For scale: on an ordinary day the US dollar moves 0.23% against the basket from one London opening to the next, either way, on average over the 250 trading days since 14 Oct 2025.
The forecast, the figure itself and what it changed in our view of the currency are in the app, next to the research.