US JOLTS

November JOLTS Shows Stability, Not Strength

The latest JOLTS report for November 2025 points to a US labor market that’s clearly cooler than a year ago, but still far from stressed. Openings are down over the year, but layoffs remain low and quits are stable, with some pockets of renewed churn in service industries.

Lower Than Last Year, Steady on the Month

• Job openings: 7.1 million in November, little changed on the month, but down 885,000 over the year.
• Openings rate: 4.3%, also little changed.

Under the surface, there’s a clear sector rotation:

• Down:
  • Accommodation and food services: –148,000
  • Transportation, warehousing, and utilities: –108,000
  • Wholesale trade: –63,000
• Up:
  • Construction: +90,000

The big picture: demand for workers is off its peak, especially in rate-sensitive and goods-related sectors, but employers are still posting a substantial number of vacancies.

Subdued, with Public Sector Softness

• Hires: 5.1 million
• Hires rate: 3.2% – both little changed in November.

The main movements were on the government side:

• Down:
  • State and local gov (ex-education): –39,000
  • State and local gov education: –31,000
• Up:
  • Federal government: +11,000

That mix suggests hiring is not accelerating, and public sector demand is softening at the margin.

Stable Overall, Churn in Services

Total separations held steady:

• Separations: 5.1 million
• Separations rate: 3.2% – unchanged.

Within that:

• Quits: 3.2 million, quits rate 2.0%, both little changed overall.
  • Notable move: quits rose in accommodation and food services by +208,000.
• Layoffs and discharges: 1.7 million, rate 1.1%, little changed.
  • Decreases in:
    • Accommodation and food services: –107,000
    • Health care and social assistance: –52,000
    • State and local gov (ex-education): –26,000
• Other separations: 232,000 – a series low.

The quits rate is often read as a gauge of worker confidence. The aggregate rate is no longer at the “great resignation” highs, but the jump in quits in accommodation and food services shows that in lower-wage, high-turnover sectors, workers still feel able to move or trade up. At the same time, low layoffs and a series low in other separations signal that employers are not yet resorting to broad-based job cuts.

By firm Size and Revisions

By establishment size, both the smallest firms (1–9 employees) and the largest (5,000+) showed little or no change in openings, hires, and separations rates. The cooling is more about sector mix than a clear size-based pattern.

The BLS also revised October:

• Job openings revised down by 221,000 to 7.4 million.
• Hires revised up by 219,000 to 5.4 million.
• Total separations revised slightly up to 5.1 million, with modest shifts between quits, layoffs, and other separations.

Revisions were larger than usual because the statistical alignment procedure was suspended for the preliminary October data, so November gives a cleaner read on where things actually stand.

How to read this

Taken together, the November JOLTS data describe:

• A labor market with fewer openings than a year ago, especially in services tied to goods and logistics.
• Hiring that is steady but not accelerating.
• Layoffs still low, with employers more inclined to slow hiring than to cut aggressively.
• A quits rate that has cooled overall but remains lively in sectors like accommodation and food services.

For policymakers and market watchers, this fits a “cooling but not cracking” narrative: demand for labor is easing from very tight levels, which should help relieve wage and inflation pressures over time, but there is no sign yet of a broad-based deterioration in job security.