It is graduation time in our colleges, universities, and high schools, but which sectors are hiring?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases monthly job openings for a variety of industries at the national level. The national job openings rate (job openings divided by job openings plus employment multiplied by 100) is 4.1% in March 2026, down from a peak of 7.5% in March 2022.
Healthcare and social assistance have the highest job opening rate at 5.4%, down from 9.4% in March 2022. Leisure and hospitality also has a job openings rate of 5.4%, with the sub-sector of accommodation and food services having a job openings rate of 5.5% (arts, entertainment, and recreation is 4.7%). These two sectors have seen recent employment growth in the local area.
Generally, job opening rates have been falling across industries, but a couple of sectors are bucking the trend. Retail job openings have been increasing since May 2025 to currently stand at 4.6%.
Although manufacturing job openings have been volatile around a mean of 2.7% over the last year, job openings in durable goods manufacturing have been increasing. Durable goods have a normal life expectancy of three or more years, think golf cars, not breakfast cereal.
What is a recent graduate to do? The traditional service sector jobs in healthcare and leisure and hospitality are still attractive sectors across different educational levels. However, there may just be a little renaissance in durable goods manufacturing (don’t mention tariffs!). Not all manufacturing jobs are in production. About a third of new “manufacturing jobs” are in professional services such as information technology, finance, engineering, and administrative support.
