The number of job openings jumped and the number of job separations rose in September, while hiring also rose and layoffs fell, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday.
In its monthly survey of labor market slack and worker mobility, the BLS reported 7.52 million job openings, an increase of 333,000 from August and well above the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 7.15 million.
According to the job offer/turnover rate survey, the job offer rate as a percentage of the total labor force was 4.5%, an increase of 0.2 points from the previous month. There are currently approximately 414,000 more job openings than workers classified as unemployed, or approximately 1.05 job openings for every available worker.
Job openings increased in manufacturing (54,000 jobs), state and local government (108,000 jobs), and professional and business services (106,000 jobs).
At the same time, the total number of job departures surged to 3.36 million, an increase of 321,000 from August and the highest level since March 2025. The number of resignations is considered a barometer of a worker’s confidence in finding a new job after leaving a previous job.
“Right now, there are more jobs available than unemployed in the United States,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “This doesn’t solve all the problems, but it’s a big change from a year ago.” “It is an encouraging sign that despite all the current headwinds, such as rising diesel and petrol prices and ongoing inflation issues, companies are gradually adding jobs.”
In the same month, the number of employees increased by 131,000 to 5.4 million, and the number of layoffs and layoffs decreased by 127,000 to 1.64 million, the lowest level since March 2025.
The report comes ahead of the BLS’ October nonfarm payrolls report, which will be released on Friday. Wall Street consensus is for the unemployment rate to remain at 4.2%, with an increase of 59,000 jobs after an increase of just 29,000 in September.
In other economic news Tuesday, factory orders for industrial goods rose 1.8% in September, well above expectations of 1.3% after rising just 0.3% in August.
