The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report on Friday. Job openings dropped to 5.370 million in August from 5.668 million in July. July's figure was revised down from 5.753 million.

The number of job openings declined for total private (4.878 million) and for government (493,000) in August.

The hires rate was 3.6% in August.

Total separations rose to 4.846 million in August from 4.796 million in July.

The JOLTS report is one of the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's favourite labour market indicators.