American workers have stopped quitting their jobs. There is nowhere better to go.
Only 33% of job seekers say it is a good time to find a quality job, down from over 70% at the 2022 peak. Hiring and firing are both stuck near their lowest levels since 2010.
A labor market with… pic.twitter.com/TaewpeVGvZ
— Kurt S. Altrichter, CRPS® (@kurtsaltrichter) September 9, 2026
US job openings for June were revised down by -177,000 vacancies, their largest monthly downward revision since November 2025
byu/RobertBartus inEconomyCharts
“This also marks the 3rd consecutive monthly downward revision.
Furthermore, the number of hires for June was revised down by -16,000, while the number of quits was revised lower by -19,000.
At the same time, the number of layoffs and discharges was revised up by +19,000.
As a result, job openings have now been revised down in 38 of the last 43 months.
US labor market data is becoming increasingly difficult to read with confidence.”
American workers have slammed the brakes on switching jobs
Workers are staying put because they don’t see a better job waiting for them. WSJ reports job switching is now running at historically low levels, while long-term unemployment is rising.
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/american-workers-have-slammed-the-brakes-on-switching-jobs-767c45d1
July JOLTS shows the freeze continuing
7.3 million openings sounds healthy until you look at the flows. Only 5.1 million hires occurred, with a 3.2% hiring rate and 1.9% quits rate.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.htm
Richmond Fed warns about long-term unemployment
The Fed’s own researchers are now pointing to a strange problem: unemployment can keep rising even without a wave of layoffs because unemployed workers are taking longer to find jobs.
https://www.richmondfed.org/research/national_economy/macro_minute/2026/beyond_unemployment_rate_reemployment_challenges_long-term_jobless