September Job Openings Rise 333,000 to 7.52 Million as Layoffs Fall to Lowest Level Since March 2025

U.S. employers posted more jobs in September than economists expected. The Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), released today, Nov. 3, showed openings rising by 333,000 to 7.52 million, up from an upwardly revised 7.19 million in August.

The forecast was lower. Estimates cited ahead of the release put openings near 7.16 million, and the figure topped every estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. It is the highest count since May and well above the recent low of 6.9 million in March.

Layoffs fall, quits rise

Layoffs dropped sharply to 1.64 million, the fewest since March 2025.

The number of people quitting their jobs rose from 3.04 million to 3.37 million. The quits rate climbed to 2.1%, the highest in more than a year. People tend to quit when they believe a better job is available elsewhere.

Gross hiring rose by 131,000 to 5.4 million. Accommodation and food services drove the increase, and that industry also saw a wave of workers walking out the door.

Where the openings came from

Professional and business services posted the biggest gains. That category includes engineering and accounting jobs as well as temp work. Information, trade and transportation, construction and manufacturing also advertised more positions.

State and local government, excluding education, added 104,000 openings. That means a meaningful share of the jump came from public payrolls, not private businesses.

Private education and health, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality all posted modest declines.

Openings now exceed the unemployed

There were about 1.1 vacancies for every unemployed worker in September. That is consistent with a balanced labor market and a long way from the 2-to-1 ratio at the 2022 peak. A year ago, there were more people out of work than open jobs.

Federal Reserve officials watch that ratio closely as a gauge of labor supply and demand.

Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, called the report "an encouraging sign that despite all the headwinds right now with high diesel and gas prices and ongoing inflation problems, companies are slowly increasing their hiring."

The caution flag

One month does not make a trend. Hiring has been sluggish for nearly three years, and layoffs have stayed historically low, which means very little churn. Workers who have jobs are relatively secure. People looking for work are finding it harder than normal to land one.

Nicole Bachaud, a labor economist at ZipRecruiter, said inflation and higher interest rates since the summer will limit how much companies can add. "All of that added up together just makes it much more expensive to operate as a business and much more expensive to expand," she said. "And so that will likely continue to be a downward pressure on hiring, until we see inflation really able to cool down."

Openings are also not jobs. Employers posted 7.52 million positions in September, yet the economy added only 29,000 jobs that month.

Politics and the next number

The report landed on Election Day, with voters heading to the polls largely gloomy about an economy strained by higher prices. A better openings number does not change what people pay at the pump or the grocery store.

The labor market also needs fewer new jobs than it once did. With baby boomers retiring and immigration sharply reduced, a smaller monthly gain can still keep unemployment low. Forecasters expect the unemployment rate to hold at 4.2%.

The next test comes Friday, when the government releases the October jobs report. FactSet's forecast is 65,000 jobs added, up from 29,000 in September. If hiring and quits translate into payrolls, that number should beat the forecast.