U.S. Job Openings Increase Slightly While Voluntary Quits Climb

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. job openings increased slightly in September and more Americans voluntarily left their jobs, adding to signs of churn and gradual healing in the labor market.

The number of available positions rose to 6.44 million during the month from a downwardly revised 6.35 million in August, the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed Tuesday. A Bloomberg survey of economists called for 6.5 million vacancies. Openings that involve workers recalled from layoffs or positions that are only offered internally are not counted in the figure.

Some 3 million quit their jobs in September, the most since February, pushing the quits rate up to 2.1% from 2%. The number of layoffs and discharges decreased to 1.33 million from 1.53 million a month earlier.

The increase in voluntary quits reflected more people leaving jobs in the the accommodation and food services industry, construction and professional and business services. The quits rate matches July as the highest since before the pandemic.

Job vacancies increased in transportation and warehousing, finance, health care and accommodation and food services.

The number of hires, which includes rehired employees, slowed to 5.87 million in September from 5.95 million a month earlier. The hires rate decreased to 4.1% from 4.2%.

Separations, which include layoffs and quits, declined by 25,000 to 4.66 million and the rate of layoffs and discharges dropped to 0.9%, the lowest in data back to 2000, from 1.1% in August.

Competition among those looking for work remains elevated, with 12.6 million Americans jobless in September, leaving about two unemployed workers vying for every job opening during the month. That stands in contrast to a two-year trend before the pandemic during which job vacancies exceeded the number of unemployed.

The JOLTS data lags behind the monthly jobs report, which showed last week that the labor market added 638,000 jobs in October, topping estimates but still at the slowest pace in six months.

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