U.S. employers laid off about 1.6 million workers in September while job openings held near 7.5 million, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey release on Tuesday, Nov. 3. BLS put layoffs and discharges at 1.6 million, a rate of 1.0%, and said they “changed little.” Job openings were “little changed at 7.5 million,” a rate of 4.5%.
Both figures are rounded, as BLS publishes them in the release text. The 1.6 million layoffs and discharges work out to roughly 53,000 a day across a 30-day month. That sounds large next to the 5.4 million hires BLS counted in September, but layoffs ran at about one for every three and a half hires, and the layoff rate of 1.0% means about one job in every hundred.
For a household with one or two paychecks, the number that matters is not 1.6 million but whether a layoff lands at home. About 1 in 100 jobs ended in a layoff or discharge in September, by BLS’s rate, and the survey counts quits separately.
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What does the survey say about job openings?
The survey produces monthly estimates of job openings, hires and separations for the nation, BLS says on its JOLTS program page, plus monthly state estimates for all 50 states and the District of Columbia at the total nonfarm level. The September release carried the headline “September job openings, hires, and total separations change little; quits increase.” It counts jobs and movements across the whole economy. It does not name employers or say which companies cut staff.
Openings of 7.5 million were up 0.3 million from August’s revised 7.2 million, though BLS called the change small. In July, the September 1 JOLTS release put openings at 7.3 million, a rate of 4.4%, so openings have stayed in a band between 7.2 million and 7.5 million over the three months. The openings rate of 4.5% compares with 4.4% in July.
One industry stood out. Openings increased by 104,000 in state and local government, excluding education, BLS said. That was the industry BLS singled out for openings in its summary of the month.
Were layoffs rising or falling?
Layoffs and discharges fell by about 0.2 million from August, when BLS’s revised figure was 1.8 million. The July figure was 1.7 million, so the last three months read 1.7 million, 1.8 million and 1.6 million, and the rate was 1.0% in both July and September.
Health care and social assistance posted the one industry decline BLS called out for layoffs, down 70,000. The layoff rate also fell for the smallest employers, establishments with 1 to 9 employees.
How did September line up against August?
Using the revised August figures, the changes in the rounded numbers were small except for quits:
- Job openings: 7.5 million, a rate of 4.5%, against 7.2 million in August.
- Hires: 5.4 million, a rate of 3.4%, against 5.3 million.
- Total separations: 5.3 million, a rate of 3.3%, against 5.2 million.
- Quits: 3.4 million, a rate of 2.1%, against 3.0 million.
- Layoffs and discharges: 1.6 million, a rate of 1.0%, against 1.8 million.
BLS described openings, hires, separations and layoffs as little changed, and described quits as the one measure that increased.
Who is quitting, and in which industries?
BLS said quits increased to 3.4 million in September, a rate of 2.1%, from 3.0 million in August. Within separations, the release said, “quits (3.4 million) increased, while layoffs and discharges (1.6 million) were little changed.” Over the year, total nonfarm quits rose by 375,000.
Total separations, the figure that combines quits, layoffs and other departures, came to 5.3 million, or 3.3%, up 0.1 million from August and described by BLS as little changed. Accommodation and food services, which also led hiring, added 195,000 separations. The quit increase came mostly from accommodation and food services, which added 197,000 quits, while arts, entertainment and recreation had 19,000 fewer.
What happened to hiring?
The trend since summer is mildly upward on the hiring side. Hires were 5.1 million in July, a rate of 3.2%, according to the September 1 release, and rose to 5.4 million, or 3.4%, in September. Quits climbed over the same stretch from 3.1 million, a rate of 1.9%, to 3.4 million, a rate of 2.1%.
BLS said the number and rate of hires “changed little” in September. Hires were 5.4 million, a rate of 3.4%, up 0.1 million from August. Accommodation and food services accounted for the largest rise, adding 158,000 hires, BLS said. Set against 7.5 million openings, those 5.4 million hires leave about 2.1 million more openings than hires in the month.
The same release is the last JOLTS report before BLS publishes October’s numbers on Dec. 1 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, according to the same BLS page. Until then, the September report is the most current picture of how many jobs were open, how many people were hired and how many were let go.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
