Job openings surged in September, as did the number of workers who quit their positions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday,while hiring also rose and layoffs dropped.
In its monthly look at labor market slack and worker mobility, the BLS reported job openings at 7.52 million, up 333,000 from August and well above the Dow Jones consensus outlook for 7.15 million.
As a share of the total workforce, the rate of job openings increased to 4.5%, up 0.2 percentage point from the prior month, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. There are now some 414,000 more job openings than workers classified as unemployed, or about 1.05 openings to every available worker.
Openings rose in manufacturing (54,000) as well as state and local government (108,000) and professional and business services (106,000).
At the same time, the total of employees leaving their jobs spiked to 3.36 million, an increase of 321,000 from August and the highest level since March 2025. Quits are considered a barometer for worker confidence in finding new jobs after leaving their prior positions.
“There are more job openings than unemployed people in the United States right now. That doesn’t solve all problems, but it’s a big change from a year ago,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “It’s an encouraging sign that despite all the headwinds right now with high diesel and gas prices and ongoing inflation problems, companies are slowly increasing their hiring.”
Hires rose on the month, up 131,000 to 5.4 million, while layoffs and discharges fell by 127,000 to 1.64 million, the lowest since March 2025.
The report comes ahead of the October nonfarm payrolls report, which the BLS will release Friday. The Wall Street consensus is for an increase of 59,000 after September eked out a gain of just 29,000, while the unemployment rate is figured to hold at 4.2%.

Investors didn’t seem overly happy about yesterday’s Apple earnings call despite the record results. That likely reflects the company’s cautious take on margins in the current quarter, but some have also criticized what they describe as a very “scripted” approach by new CEO John Ternus.
Bloomberg was the biggest critic, describing it as a “timid” performance that left analysts “sorely disappointed” …
Bloomberg’s Dave Lee didn’t hold back.
Apple investors and fans hoping to get an insight into the philosophy of new Chief Executive Officer John Ternus on Monday were left sorely disappointed. The 51-year-old’s first earnings call was a timid affair, with Ternus taking cover behind a carefully written script as analysts peppered him with questions.
Lee acknowledged that the slump in pre-market trading will have been largely driven by Apple’s caution about rising expenses in the current quarter. The company said that memory costs were continuing to rise and that building out Siri AI data centers we’re going to add to the RAM bill. But he argued that Ternus missed an opportunity to talk up the company.
In front of Ternus on Monday night was a chance to counteract the gloom and doom by instilling in Wall Street the fundamentals of the Ternus Doctrine — what he sees Apple becoming under his tenure, the “product guy” taking the company to a new era of innovation. Instead, he spoke like a man glancing at the clock and wishing the minutes away.
Fortune’s Sebastian Herrera was less vocal but echoed some of the criticism.
Ternus fielded some questions but also delegated answers to Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh and Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan, who Apple said would participate in earnings calls moving forward, something the company hasn’t done for years. Ternus projected confidence on the call, but he appeared to stick mostly to scripted marketing points.
9to5Mac’s Take
It will of course take Ternus some time to develop his own style when it comes to all of the varied aspects of the role, including addressing analysts in earnings calls, but I thought he took a measured but optimistic approach. Given the famously reticent style of his predecessor, the criticism strikes me as rather odd.
What’s your take? Please share in the comments.

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Yum Brands on Tuesday reported earnings that beat expectations, but a cyclospora outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce at Taco Bell weighed on the company’s same-store sales growth.
However, Yum said Taco Bell, which the company considers a “growth engine” for its business, has since rebounded.
“Since the end of September, Taco Bell U.S. has been outpacing the [quick-service restaurant] industry on same-store sales growth,” Yum CEO Chris Turner said in a statement.
Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
Earnings per share: $1.56 adjusted vs. $1.49 expected
Revenue: $2.05 billion vs. $2.05 billion expected
Yum reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $1.62 billion, or $5.92 per share, up from $397 million, or $1.41 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding gains from its divestiture of Pizza Hut and other items, the restaurant company earned $1.56 per share.
Net sales rose 4% to $2.05 billion.
During the quarter, Yum completed its divestiture of Pizza Hut. It closed the sale of the pizza chain’s business in mainland China to Yum China on Aug. 7 and sold the rest of Pizza Hut to LongRange Capital on Sept. 1. The company’s third-quarter results include Pizza Hut up until those dates.
Excluding Pizza Hut, Yum’s same-store sales were flat for the quarter as Taco Bell weighed on the company’s overall results. Taco Bell’s same-store sales declined by 4% as diners temporarily pulled back on visits due to the foodborne illness outbreak.
Yum executives previously said the weekend of July 18 saw the most severe impact to sales, but sales trends have improved since then.
Outside of the U.S., Taco Bell’s much smaller international business reported same-store sales growth of 5%.
KFC’s same-store sales ticked up 1%, helped by system sales growth in China and Europe. The U.S., now the chicken chain’s third-largest market, saw system sales shrink 6% in the quarter.

Umit Bektas | Reuters
The stock market is not yet pricing in a Democratic sweep of Congress — despite some polls and most prediction markets pointing that way — so that scenario could weigh on share prices Wednesday, according to investors and analysts.
Republicans managing to keep control could cause a short-term relief rally, they said.
Short-term moves aside, the typical post-midterm pattern in the months ahead is bullish. But some wonder if the market could buck the positive historical trend this time because the S&P 500 is already up so much this year going into the election.
As far as certain stocks to watch, a big Democratic win on Tuesday night — especially in the Texas governor race — could add fuel to an AI stock sell-off on the notion that more data center restrictions would gain momentum nationally. Defense stocks could come under pressure on fears of limits on spending.
Expected stock market reaction
Polls are pointing to a Democratic victory in the House and a toss-up in the Senate. Prediction markets have been more favorable to Democrats, calling for a blue sweep.
While investors are signaling “begrudging acceptance” to a base case scenario that there will indeed be a Democratic sweep, that’s not how they’re positioning, said Tobin Marcus, head of U.S. policy and politics at Wolfe Research. The firm’s recent survey data among more than 100 institutional investors suggests they are not strongly positioned for any particular result.
“Investors seem to have a significant dose of skepticism about whether the final outcome is going to be quite as favorable to Democrats as the polling suggests,” Marcus told CNBC, noting that the firm shares the view that the “polling is likely overstating Democratic strength.”
JPMorgan sees a blue wave knocking the S&P 500 by about a half percent on Wednesday.
On the other hand, if Republicans end up retaining both chambers of Congress, that could spur a rally, said Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
“From a certainty standpoint, the market knows what to do with Republicans holding both chambers,” he said.
Citigroup strategists said Monday that Republicans losing the House but managing to keep the Senate could be “a tailwind for equities into year-end.” JPMorgan traders predict up to a 1% pop on Wednesday if Republicans hold on to that chamber.
Looking past any short-term move, stocks tend to rally after the midterms have concluded. In fact, the S&P 500 was up one year out after all midterm elections going back to the early 1980s.
But the S&P 500 has already recorded double-digit gains so far in 2026, so some on Wall Street worry that investors are being overly complacent heading into this year’s elections.
Stock Chart IconStock chart icon
During midterm election years, the S&P 500 has typically averaged a 14% drawdown at some point in the second half of the year found Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG.
“The reason stocks often perform well in November during midterms is because [the S&P 500] typically is weak INTO the elections. We have the opposite setup this year,” Krinsky wrote last week. “Therefore, while consensus is that we see a post midterm rally, we think the opposite is actually more likely.”
AI jitters meet the ballot box
It’s not helping that the broader market has recently come under significant pressure due to turbulence in the AI trade, which led the Nasdaq Composite to post its worst day since June on Friday. AI shares led the market lower again on Monday.
A strong showing from Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm elections could pressure the trade even more.
At the state level, increased Democratic control is probably a headwind for stocks associated with data centers and technological capital equipment, analysts said.
“It [would solidify] the early kind of cautionary signs in different states around the advancement of AI infrastructure,” Rob Rains at Washington Analysis told CNBC.
Goldman Sachs strategists said this week that a Democratic Congress “might limit data center tax incentives, but a national moratorium looks unlikely in any election outcome.”
One example would be Texas — a key hub of the data-center buildout. A surprise loss there by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has the “potential to spook” the market in the short term, Wolfe’s Marcus said.
Sergio Flores | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Defense and healthcare stocks
A blue wave might pressure defense shares, while boosting health care stocks, analysts and investors said.
“A substantial Democratic sweep could limit real spending growth unless a broader agreement increases both defense and health-care funding,” said Alex Sagal, global equity analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. However, he noted that the earnings outlook for the defense industry looks “stable to modestly positive.”
Wolfe Research’s Marcus said that healthcare is going to be “the biggest focus,” as Democrats will push for restoring expired Affordable Care Act enhanced premium subsidies or unwinding some of the Medicaid reforms in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“Healthcare stocks have been doing really well lately,” Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management, said to CNBC. “I think part of that is the anti-AI trade, but I also think part of it is just optimism that Democrats are taking over.”
Ellerbroek is keeping his eye on hospital-related stocks such as HCA Healthcare and Tenet Healthcare as well as health insurers like UnitedHealth and Centene .
Bank pressure incoming?
Financials was the worst S&P 500 sector in early 2026 on the heels of President Donald Trump calling on Congress to pass a law that would cap credit card interest rates at 10%. While the sector has been able to notch gains since, with its year-to-date rise now at around 3%, things could get more unstable for the group under Democratic control.
“Democrats will come in wanting to show tangible progress on the affordability issue, and that means targeting sectors that are front and center in consumer budgets,” said Evercore ISI’s Matthew Aks. “We know Trump has populist instincts, populist leanings, and could he pick a couple of issues and decide to team up with the Democrats on those issues and target those industries in a populist way? Absolutely.”
Given that Democratic control is often associated with increased regulation, while Republican control is thought to promote deregulation, Democrats could be interested in passing credit card rate caps if they come out victorious.
“I think if Democrats have control of one or both chambers, they would try to pass it and see if they could get Trump to either sign it or force him to veto it, and that would let Democrats kind of score a political point,” Aks said.
Iran wildcard
Trump could restart the war against Iran after holding off any major strikes leading up to the midterms, a move that could upend the overall market and cause energy stocks to outperform. Crude oil prices jumped more than 10% in October, though they gave a lot of that gain back on Monday.
Fatemeh Bahrami | Anadolu | Getty Images
Gasoline prices stood at $4.17 a gallon on average nationwide Sunday, a nearly 40% increase compared to the same period last year, per AAA.
“If there are escalations, that could obviously put upward pressure on prices just ahead of Thanksgiving,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysts at Gas Buddy, “which is also when Americans have really staunch traditions in terms of driving to friends and family.”
If Trump decides to take forceful action, it could snuff out hope for a typical post-midterm year-end rally.
Evercore ISI said the S&P 500 could retreat by double-digits to end the year at 6,800 as oil spikes if the president “moves to kinetic escalation in Iran ahead of seating the new Congress in January” and Democrats take Congress.
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