Employers had about 7.5 million job openings at the end of September and made 5.4 million hires over the course of the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported November 3. The agency described both measures as little changed from August. The number of workers who quit rose to 3.4 million, while layoffs and discharges stayed near 1.6 million.
For job seekers, the difference between openings and hires matters more than the gap between those two numbers. One tells you how many positions employers were trying to fill at a specific point. The other counts people who actually started jobs over a month. In September, state and local government outside education accounted for a notable rise in vacancies. Hotels, restaurants and other hospitality businesses stood out for an increase in hires.
How to read the two numbers
The BLS release counts openings on the last business day of September. Hiring covers additions to payroll throughout the month. An employer could fill a position early in September, record a hire and have no opening left to report at month-end. It could also end the month recruiting for a position that it fills in October.
That difference in timing means subtracting 5.4 million hires from 7.5 million openings would not tell you how many September vacancies went unfilled. A national tally also combines industries, locations and occupations. It cannot tell you how many employers are recruiting for your particular job in your area.
The Associated Press reported that September openings were higher than the revised August figure and the highest since May. The BLS describes the month-to-month change as small. Both readings can be true because a survey estimate can move numerically without providing strong evidence that the underlying rate has changed. AP also noted that hiring has been sluggish for an extended period, so one report is limited evidence of a sustained improvement.
Where employers were adding people
Hiring in accommodation and food services increased by 158,000. At the same time, quits in that industry rose by 197,000. Together, those figures show more movement in and out of jobs. They do not show whether an individual employer was expanding its workforce, replacing people who left or doing both. Workers comparing hospitality offers can use that distinction to ask whether a role is newly created, a replacement or seasonal, and how many hours the employer expects to offer.
State and local government outside education recorded 104,000 more openings. That was a change in vacancies, so it gives job seekers a sector to look at without establishing that public employers filled more jobs that month. A posting on an agency's own careers page can tell an applicant where the job is based, when applications close and which qualifications the employer requires. Those details are more useful for choosing where to apply than the national count alone.
In health care and social assistance, layoffs and discharges fell by 70,000. That is a measure of fewer involuntary departures. It answers a different question from how many nurses, aides or other workers employers were trying to hire.
What to watch in the next report
Quits can indicate that workers are more willing or able to leave a job. The September count rose, but the share of workers quitting changed little at 2.1 percent. And the survey does not say whether someone who quit had another job lined up. A stronger signal for job seekers would be a sustained rise in hiring alongside openings, especially in the industry where they are applying. The September report gives them a way to tell those signals apart.
