MAYBE THE “NO FIRE, NO HIRE” PHASE IS FINALLY ENDING: Job openings posted big September gain in positive sign for labor market ahead of payrolls report.
In its monthly look at labor market slack and worker mobility, the BLS reported job openings at 7.52 million, up 333,000 from August and well above the Dow Jones consensus outlook for 7.15 million.
As a share of the total workforce, the rate of job openings increased to 4.5%, up 0.2 percentage point from the prior month, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. There are now some 414,000 more job openings than workers classified as unemployed, or about 1.05 openings to every available worker.
Openings rose in manufacturing (54,000) as well as state and local government (108,000) and professional and business services (106,000).
At the same time, the total of employees leaving their jobs spiked to 3.36 million, an increase of 321,000 from August and the highest level since March 2025. Quits are considered a barometer for worker confidence in finding new jobs after leaving their prior positions.
It hasn’t been easy, recovering from Bidenflation, further decoupling from China, and trying to re-shore manufacturing all at the same time.



