US Job Openings Jumped to 7.5 Million in September

US job openings jumped to 7.5 million in September, up from a revised 7.19 million in August and the highest figure since May, according to the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), released Tuesday. That's a sharp rebound from the recent low of 6.9 million in March, and it moves the dial for anyone currently job hunting.

Why? Openings now outnumber the unemployed — a reversal from a year ago, when more people were out of work than there were available jobs. For individual candidates, that math matters. It means more posted roles competing for roughly the same pool of seekers, which modestly improves your odds of getting a callback.

Where did the openings appear?

The gains weren't evenly spread. Professional and business services led — that bucket covers high-paying engineering and accounting roles plus temp-industry positions. Manufacturers, shipping firms, and state and local governments also posted more vacancies.

So if you're in accounting, engineering, logistics, or public-sector work, September's data points directly at you. If you're elsewhere, the improvement is real but thinner.

What happened to hiring, layoffs and quits?

The same JOLTS report showed gross hiring (job gains before subtracting quits and losses) rose, while layoffs fell sharply to 1.64 million — the fewest since March 2025. Quits climbed to 3.37 million, the highest in roughly 18 months and up from 3.04 million.

That quits number is quietly the best news in the report. Workers usually quit when they have something lined up or feel confident they can find it. Rising quits signal growing worker confidence — and a labor market loosening from the employee's side.

The catch is what economists call churn (the flow of people into and out of jobs). Hiring has been sluggish for nearly three years while layoffs stayed historically low. Low churn means the employed enjoy unusual job security, but the unemployed face a much harder search than normal. One strong month doesn't break that pattern; the trend would need to continue for several months to suggest real progress.

What did economists say?

"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," said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.

Nicole Bachaud, a labor economist at ZipRecruiter, was more cautious. With inflation still high and interest rates up since the summer, companies may struggle to ramp up hiring much further. "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."

What's next?

The October jobs report lands Friday, and FactSet forecasts employers added 65,000 positions — an improvement from 29,000 in September — with unemployment holding at a low 4.2%. Normally 65,000 would signal a struggling economy, but with the baby boom generation retiring and immigration sharply reduced, the economy needs fewer new jobs to keep unemployment low. The political backdrop remains gloomy: voters head to the polls Tuesday unhappy with still-elevated prices, even as this data suggests the underlying hiring picture is, slowly, turning.