Job openings were roughly flat on a monthly basis in May, the third month of the war with Iran, according to newly released government estimates.

Hovering just under 7.6 million positions, the U.S. economy had almost 4% more job openings in May than a year ago, when openings stood at about 7.3 million. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the number of job vacancies to fall to 7.3 million last month.

Employers ultimately added about 9,000 jobs from the end of April to the end of May, according to Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) findings published by the U.S. Bureau of Labr Statistics (BLS) on Tuesday.

But even with resilient job openings, hiring remained soft in May. Employers have had to face waves of uncertainty over the past year, from President Donald Trump’s signature tariff policies and advancements in AI to geopolitical tensions like the Iran war.

Hirings of around 5.33 million a year ago fell to 5.17 million in May — lower than the 5.21 million in April when hirings slid more than 5% from a year ago. The pace of hiring was flat over the month at 3.3%.

Layoffs increased by 45,000, or about 2.45%, over the month to land at 1.7 million, contributing to a 1.25% monthly rise in overall separations, which were about 3.5% lower than a year ago.

The pace of job quits, while unchanged from April at 1.9%, was down from 2.1% a year ago in May. That signals fewer workers are voluntarily leaving jobs, which correlates with declining job confidence among U.S. workers, fueled by AI concerns.

The Conference Board released its monthly consumer confidence report for June on Tuesday, showing that as overall business and financial outlooks brightened, “perceptions of the current labor market softened measurably,” the research group said.

Respondents who said jobs were “hard to get” bumped up to 22.5% in June, the highest level since January 2021, according to Conference Board data.

The BLS is scheduled to release its monthly employment summary for May on Thursday, after reporting last month that U.S. payrolls expanded by 172,000 in April, concentrated in healthcare, leisure and hospitality, and local government sectors.

After 2025 posted the worst year for job growth since 2002 outside of recession years, stronger job creation in 2026 has coincided with a reacceleration in inflation, prompted by tariffs and global energy and trade shocks stemming from the war with Iran.

A unanimous vote by Federal Reserve policymakers in mid-June to leave the federal funds rate unchanged reflects growing concern about rising inflation, against a backdrop of steady and low U.S. unemployment, which has remained in the low-4% range since June 2024.