Job openings changed little in September while the number of people who quit their jobs grew, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. File Photo by CJ Gunther/EPA
Nov. 3 (UPI) — Job openings changed little in September while the number of people who quit their jobs grew, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.
The number of job openings for the month was 7.5 million and hires also showed little change over August with about 5.4 million hires. Meanwhile, 3.4 million people quit their jobs, up about 2.4%.
State and local government job openings, excluding education jobs, increased by about 104,000. Accommodation and food service jobs hired about 158,000 workers.
Total separations, which includes layoffs, discharges and workers who quit, also changed little, totaling 5.3 million. Workers who quit marked the biggest change in separations. About 197,000 workers in accommodation and food service industries quit their jobs while quitting in arts and entertainment jobs was down.
For the year ending in September, quitting in nonfarm roles has increased by 375,000.
Despite little change in the rate of job openings, the increase of 333,000 new job openings over August outpaced the Dow Jones consensus.
“There are more job openings than unemployed people in the United States right now,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “That doesn’t solve all problems but it’s a big change from a year ago. 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 Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its nonfarm payrolls report for October on Friday.