U.S. job openings reach 7.5 million in September

Gross hiring and worker quits rose as layoffs fell in September

U.S. employers increased job postings in September, the Labor Department reported, and the department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed gross hiring rose while layoffs fell. The Associated Press described voters headed to the polls Tuesday as “largely gloomy over an economy beset by higher prices.”

Job openings rose the most in professional and business services, which includes high-paying jobs in engineering and accounting as well as jobs in the temp industry. Manufacturers, shipping firms, and state and local governments also advertised for more workers. The Labor Department counted 7.5 million openings in September, up from a revised 7.19 million in August. The total was the largest since May and an increase from a recent low of 6.9 million in March.

The number of openings now exceeds the number of unemployed, a sharp switch from a year ago when more people were out of work than available jobs. The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey also showed gross hiring rose in September. Gross hiring counts job gains before subtracting people who quit or lost jobs.

Layoffs fell sharply to 1.64 million in September, the fewest since March 2025. The number of people quitting their jobs rose to 3.37 million from 3.04 million, the highest level in about 18 months.

The Associated Press said the rise in quits is generally a good sign because workers usually leave a job when they have another lined up or when they are confident they can find new work.

The Associated Press said hiring had been sluggish for nearly three years, though layoffs had also been historically low, a sign of meager “churn” in the labor market. The Associated Press said low churn meant those who were employed were enjoying relatively high levels of job security, but it was much harder than normal for those looking for work to find a job.

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

Nicole Bachaud, a labor economist at ZipRecruiter, cautioned that with inflation still high and interest rates having increased since the summer, companies may not be able to ramp up hiring by much in the coming months. Bachaud said, “All of that added up together just makes it much more expensive to operate as a business and much more expensive to expand. And so that will likely continue to be a downward pressure on hiring, until we see inflation really able to cool down.”

The Associated Press said stronger economic growth may be encouraging more hiring and described the September increases as a hopeful sign that hiring could improve, while saying the trend would have to continue for several months to suggest real progress.

The government will issue the October jobs report on Friday. According to data provider FactSet, the report would show employers added 65,000 positions in October, an improvement from 29,000 in September. The unemployment rate was also expected to remain at a low 4.2%.

The Associated Press noted that job gains of 65,000 would typically be viewed as a sign of a struggling economy, but it added that with the baby-boom generation retiring and immigration sharply reduced, the economy did not need to generate as many jobs as in the past for unemployment to remain low.

In FRED’s raw series as of Nov. 3, 2026, the official U-3 unemployment series stood at 4.2%, while the broader U-6 underemployment series stood at 7.6%. The U-6 measure includes discouraged workers and people working part time involuntarily, providing a broader measure of underemployment than U-3.