Job openings unexpectedly rose in recent months, climbing to 7.7 million in October, according to data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Openings were last reported at 7.2 million in August, according to a report released on September 30, just prior to the government shutdown.
The report for September was not released in early October due to the government shutdown. The report released Tuesday showed openings in September rose to 7.658 million. Unrounded, the number of vacancies at the end of October rose to 7.670 million.
The October figure was higher than even the most optimistic estimates. The report for October was delayed by the government shutdown. The figures come from the government’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as JOLTS, and are adjusted for seasonal variation.
Openings climbed in manufacturing, rising from 385,000 in September to 410,000. The prior report had shown 409,000 in August.
Retail trade openings rose to 762,000 million from 620,000 million. Wholesale trade openings rose to 205,000 from 153,000. Transportation, warehousing, and utilities openings climbed to 396,000 from 620,000.
There were contractions in the number of job openings in finance, information, and professional and business services. Leisure and hospitality job vacancies also shrank in the month.
Federal government openings fell to 89,000 from 114,000. Local and state education jobs declined and private education job openings were down slightly. State and local openings outside of education rose. Healthcare and social assistance job openings, which are officially counted as private sector but considered ‘government-adjacent’ because funding is highly dependent on government spending, rose.
The number of layoffs in October climbed to 1.85 million, the highest since the start of 2023. These included a rise from 39,000 to 62,000 in state and local government excluding education. The biggest driver of the increase was a jump from 144,000 to 274,000 in hospitality and food services. Layoffs were steady in information and fell in finance.
Construction layoffs declined while manufacturing layoffs rose to 127,000 from 117,000.
Despite the rise in openings, hiring declined by 218,000 after surging in the month prior. That’s consistent with a decrease in the supply of workers due to tighter border policies and deportations.
The overall picture of the labor market painted by the report shows more reslience than many economists had forecast. Hiring has slowed and the labor market has softened buy not by as much as expected.
The quits rate—the percentage of people voluntarily leaving their jobs each month—fell to the lowest since May 2020. A declining quits rate is regarded as a sign of weakening worker confidence in the ability to find new work.