Employers added jobs in June at a slightly faster pace than a year ago but a slightly slower pace than the previous month, government estimates published Tuesday show.

Job openings declined by approximately 178,000 from the end of May to the end of June to land just under 7.4 million, roughly 155,000 more than a year ago, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) findings from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Though payroll growth softened in June, concentrated hiring gains across the healthcare, leisure and hospitality sectors have helped stabilize U.S. job conditions over the first half of 2026, allaying concerns of accelerating labor weakness from the end of 2025.

Concentrated hiring trends have underscored lingering fragility in the U.S. jobless rate, however, which ticked down to 4.2% in June, as employers have been hesitant to hire or fire workers amid uncertainty linked to tariffs and artificial intelligence, some economists warn.

Sectors posting the largest monthly declines in job openings were healthcare, which shed 147,000 openings, and leisure and hospitality, which lost 86,000. Wholesale trade openings were trimmed by 74,000 and the business services sector had 71,000 fewer openings.

Estimates released last month of May job openings were revised lower by 57,000, while the number of hires was revised higher by 82,000.

Hiring ticked up slightly in June, Tuesday’s report showed, to almost 5.35 million from 5.25 million the previous month, though the overall pace of hiring remained unchanged from May’s subdued levels.

The number of overall job separations also rose slightly in June from the previous month but remained lower from a year ago, with only 5,000 of the approximately 91,000 additional separations in June coming from layoffs and firings, compared to 79,000 quits.

BLS revisions for May JOLTS data included a substantial 159,000 increase in separations, including an additional 88,000 quits and 53,000 additional layoffs and firings. The pace of quits, layoffs and firings in June was flat over the month while posting slight declines from a year ago.

Professional and business services employers led all sectors in layoffs and firings in June, posting roughly 41,000, followed by arts, entertainment and recreation employers at 21,000.

Private education and health services providers saw the largest monthly pullback in layoffs and firings, followed by the accommodation and food services sector.