Job openings posted big September gain in positive sign for labor market ahead of payrolls report

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 . Openings rose in manufacturing (54,000) as well as state and local government (108,000) and professional and business services (106,000).