Job openings fell to 10 million in August, a drop of over 1 million open positions, according to the monthly JOLTS report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The largest decreases in job openings were in health care and retail.
Job openings had never exceeded 8 million in a month before last year, but had topped 11 million every month since December 2021, until August. The August data follows several months of record-high job openings and quit rates, as employers continue to scramble to find workers amid labor shortages across many sectors. Openings still outnumbered unemployed workers by about 4 million in August.
Over 4.1 million workers left their jobs in August. The wave of quitting signals that workers continue to feel comfortable enough to switch jobs in pursuit of higher pay or better working conditions. While still historically elevated, quitting has begun to taper down. Layoffs in August remained low at 1.4 million, despite reports of job cutting from the tech, finance and real estate sectors.
On Friday, the Department of Labor will report on how many jobs the U.S. economy added in September, the unemployment rate and wage gains for the month.
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