Manufacturing Job Openings Rise Sharply, Led by Durable Goods Demand
Job openings for manufacturing increased by 79,000 to 580,000 in July. At the same time, the June job openings level of 501,000 was revised upward from 481,000 in the previous report. Durable goods openings in July jumped 76,000 to 429,000, while nondurable goods openings ticked up 2,000 to 151,000. The manufacturing job openings rate rose to 4.4% from 3.8% in June and 3.3% the previous year. The rate for durable goods manufacturing advanced 0.9 percentage points to 5.2%, and the nondurable goods manufacturing rate edged up 0.1 percentage point to 3.1%.
In the larger economy, the number of job openings rose to 7.3 million, a gain of 89,000 from June and 182,000 higher than the previous year. The job openings rate ticked up to 4.4% from 4.3% in June and 4.3% in July 2025. This data reflects an overall labor market that has eased back to pre-pandemic levels but continues to remain relatively tight from a historical perspective.
The number of hires in the overall economy fell 278,000 to 5.1 million in July and 171,000 below the previous year. The hires rate in the overall economy ticked down from 3.4% in June to 3.2% in July. Meanwhile, the hires rate for manufacturing stepped down 0.3 percentage points to 2.3% in July and a similar level as seen in July 2025. The hires rate for durable goods fell 0.4 percentage points to 2.2%, while the hires rate for nondurable goods decreased 0.3 percentage points to 2.3%.
In the larger economy, total separations, which include quits, layoffs, discharges and other separations, fell 265,000 from June to 5.1 million and declined 98,000 from the previous year. The total separations rate ticked down 0.2 percentage points to 3.2% for the overall economy and is down from 3.3% in July 2025. The total separations rate for manufacturing moved down 0.1 percentage point to 2.3%, down from 2.4% in July 2025. Within that rate, layoffs and discharges declined 6,000 in July for manufacturing, while quits decreased 11,000. The quit and layoff rates continued to remain lower for manufacturing than the total nonfarm sector.
