Open vacancies rise to 7.52 million in September and exceed consensus
Vacancies, voluntary layoffs and orders to industry surprise in September before Friday's payroll.
BY THE X-TRADER NEWS NEWSROOM · REPORTING FROM CNBC · 2 MIN
The United States job market opened the last quarter with more vacancies than expected. According to CNBC, the number of open positions reached 7.52 million in September, an increase of 333 thousand compared to August and above the Dow Jones consensus of 7.15 million. The vacancy rate rose to 4.5% of the workforce, an increase of 0.2 percentage points in the month.
The data was released by the BLS, the official labor statistics body in the United States, on Tuesday. The growth in vacancies was concentrated in some sectors. State and local government led the way, with 108,000 additional jobs, followed by professional and business services, with 106,000, and manufacturing, with 54,000.
The movement of those already employed also attracted attention. Voluntary layoffs, known as quits, totaled 3.36 million, an increase of 321 thousand compared to August and the highest level since March 2025. Hiring reached 5.4 million, 131 thousand more than in the previous month. On the opposite side, layoffs and dismissals fell by 127 thousand, to 1.64 million, the lowest level since March 2025.
The scenario combines signals in different directions. More voluntary resignations usually indicate confidence to change jobs, while the drop in layoffs points to fewer cuts. In industry, orders for manufactured goods rose 1.8% in September, above the 1.3% estimate, after rising 0.3% in August, also according to CNBC.
The weight of these numbers comes from the calendar. Vacancies are released before the payroll report, the payroll with October data, which comes out on Friday. The consensus points to the creation of 59 thousand jobs, compared to 29 thousand in September, and an unemployment rate of 4.2%. The reading that the job market remains resilient, therefore, depends on what Friday's results will show.
What changes for the investor
A firm job market supports income and consumption, which can favor companies linked to retail and services. At the same time, it tends to maintain pressure on interest rates and inflation, which tends to weigh on growth stocks, such as those concentrated on the Nasdaq, and on the yield curve. For those who trade dollars and futures, the central point is the surprise in relation to the consensus: a payroll above 59 thousand jobs tends to reinforce the reading of a heated economy, while a number below could alleviate this pressure. September data alone does not indicate the direction of the market, and investors need to follow Friday's report before reaching any conclusion.
Automatically translated from Portuguese.
