Job Openings Increase, Offsetting Previous Sharp Decline

​Job openings rose by over 400,000 to 10.7 million in September, according to the monthly JOLTS report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increase follows the cliff dive reported in August, when openings plunged by nearly 1 million. The largest increases in job openings were in hospitality and health care.

Job openings had never exceeded 8 million in a month before last year, but had topped 11 million every month since December 2021, until August. The September data follows several months of record-high job openings and quit rates, as employers continue to scramble to find workers amid labor shortages across many sectors. Even though the labor gap is slowly contracting, openings are still historically high and outnumbered unemployed workers by about 5 million in September.

Over 4 million workers left their jobs in September. The number of people quitting signals that workers continue to feel comfortable enough to switch jobs in pursuit of higher pay or better working conditions. Layoffs in September edged down to 1.3 million, despite reports of job cutting from the tech, finance and real estate sectors.

On Friday, the Department of Labor will report on how many jobs the U.S. economy added in October, the unemployment rate and wage gains for the month.