Washington — September JOLTS Data Show Job Openings, Quits Rates Both Rise

The job openings rate and the quits rate both rose in September, according to the latest official U.S. labor turnover figures reported by the Financial Times. The increase in both measures lends support to the Federal Reserve's narrative of a resilient labor market, the FT reported.

The figures come from the federal government's monthly survey of job openings, hires, quits, and layoffs. Economists and policymakers watch the report closely because it offers a fuller picture of labor market churn than the monthly jobs report alone, capturing not just whether workers are employed but how freely they are moving between jobs and how aggressively employers are trying to fill positions.

What did the September data show?

The FT's reporting is specific on direction, not magnitude: both the job openings rate and the quits rate increased from the prior reading. A rising openings rate signals that employers are posting more unfilled positions relative to total employment. A rising quits rate signals that more workers are voluntarily leaving jobs, typically a sign they are confident about finding comparable or better work elsewhere.

Taken together, the two moving in the same direction points to a labor market gaining momentum rather than cooling, the FT reported. That combination — more openings and more voluntary departures — is the pattern economists associate with a tightening, rather than a loosening, labor market.

Why do quits and openings rates matter to the Fed?

The Federal Reserve has a dual mandate: stable prices and maximum employment. Labor market turnover data factor into how the central bank reads the health of the job market when it weighs interest rate decisions. A rising quits rate in particular has historically been treated as a proxy for worker bargaining power, since workers are less likely to leave jobs voluntarily when they fear they cannot replace the income or benefits.

The FT's reporting frames the September increases as consistent with the Fed's existing narrative that the labor market remains resilient. That framing matters for how investors and policymakers interpret incoming data in the weeks ahead: a report that confirmed cooling would raise different questions than one that confirms continued strength.

What does "resilient" mean in the Fed's current reading of the labor market?

The FT's characterization — that the September figures "support the Fed's narrative of a resilient labour market" — indicates the central bank has been describing labor conditions in those terms heading into this release. The new turnover data did not contradict that description, according to the report.

A resilient labor market, in the terms typically used by the Fed, means job creation and worker mobility are holding up even as the central bank has worked to control inflation. The job openings and quits data are one of several data series — alongside the unemployment rate, nonfarm payrolls, and wage growth — that feed into that overall assessment.

How does this data get collected and reported?

The job openings and quits figures referenced by the FT come from the government's monthly labor turnover survey, which tracks hires, openings, quits, layoffs, and other separations across U.S. employers. The survey is released with a lag relative to the reference month, meaning the September figures described by the FT reflect conditions from several weeks before publication.

Because the data is collected from a sample of employers rather than a full census, month-to-month moves in either direction are sometimes revised in subsequent releases. The FT's report does not indicate any revision to prior months' figures alongside the September release.

What comes next for Fed watchers?

The FT report frames the September turnover figures as one data point reinforcing the Fed's existing labor market narrative rather than a reversal of it. Future data releases — including subsequent job openings and quits reports, as well as the broader monthly employment report — will continue to shape how the central bank characterizes labor market conditions as it weighs its next policy moves.

For now, the direction of September's figures — both rates rising together — aligns with the resilient-labor-market framing the Fed has used, according to the Financial Times' reporting on the release.