What Americans are calling "The Great Resignation" lost some steam in October, with the total amount of workers leaving their jobs either due to dissatisfaction or better opportunities elsewhere declined.
Figures from the U.S. Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) revealed job quitters declined by 4.7%, falling to 4.16 million from 4.36 million. The rate as a share of the workforce fell from 3% to 2.8%.
The JOLTS report is closely watched at the Federal Reserve and elsewhere for signs of labor market tightness.
While the quits rate dropped, the level of job openings accelerated to just below its all-time high. That number totaled 11.03 million, an increase of 4.1% as the rate increased to 6.9% from 6.7%.
The number of openings exceeded those looking for jobs by 3.6 million in October. JOLTS data runs a month behind the more closely followed non-farm payrolls report, which showed a gain of 546,000 for the month.
The pandemic has seen quits surge to what had been record highs. Even with October’s decline, the level is still 24% above where it was a year ago.
