American workers are leaving their jobs at the fastest rate since March 2025, a signal that confidence in the labour market remains resilient despite persistent economic pressures.
The total number of employees voluntarily quitting their positions climbed to 3.36 million in September, a jump of 321,000 from August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey.
Economists treat the quits rate as a reliable gauge of worker confidence, since people tend to leave positions only when they feel secure about landing something better elsewhere.
The surge in quits accompanied a broader set of encouraging figures, with total job openings rising to 7.52 million in September, a gain of 333,000 on the prior month.
That result comfortably surpassed the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 7.15 million, extending a run of stronger-than-expected labour market readings that have surprised forecasters this autumn.
The openings rate climbed to 4.5% of the total workforce, up 0.2 percentage points from August, and the gap between available positions and unemployed workers widened to roughly 414,000, equating to approximately 1.05 openings for every jobseeker.
Sector-level data showed the gains were broad-based, with state and local government adding 108,000 openings, professional and business services contributing 106,000, and manufacturing posting an increase of 54,000.
Layoffs and discharges fell by 127,000 to 1.64 million, also the lowest reading since March 2025, while total hires rose by 131,000 to reach 5.4 million on the month.
Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, pointed to the openings-to-unemployment ratio as the headline story, saying: “There are more job openings than unemployed people in the United States right now. That doesn’t solve all problems, but it’s a big change from a year ago.”
Long added that the data reflected gradual momentum in corporate hiring despite ongoing cost pressures, noting: “It’s 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 JOLTS figures arrive days before the BLS releases its October nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, which Wall Street expects to show a gain of around 59,000 jobs.
That would represent a significant improvement on September’s underwhelming reading of just 29,000, though the unemployment rate is widely forecast to hold steady at 4.2%.
Separately, factory orders for manufactured goods rose 1.8% in September, well ahead of the 1.3% estimate and a sharp acceleration from August’s modest 0.3% increase, adding further weight to the more optimistic labour picture.