Great news: lots of Americans just quit their jobs

Today there's yet another encouraging sign that the job market is healing: lots of people are writing resignation letters. 2.8 million Americans quit their jobs in September — that's 300,000 more than in August and the highest number since April 2008.

The quits rate — the number of people leaving their jobs as a share of all workers — also spiked to 2 percent (that new spike is circled in yellow on the graph below).

That's one of the sharpest upticks in a while and is the quits rate's highest level since April 2008. This is great news because the quits rate is generally taken as a sign of how current workers feel the job market is — if they feel they can easily find a job elsewhere, they are more likely to leave their current work. If the job market looks terrifying, they are more likely to cling to even a job they hate for dear life.

There was plenty of other great news in this report as well. One other trend that is slowly inching toward normal is the number of unemployed people per opening, as Justin Wolfers tweeted.

There are still 2 unemployed people per job opening. It's progress, but still higher than in a healthy labor market: pic.twitter.com/RzGyRrFLXD

— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) November 13, 2014

As he says, things are nowhere near normal in the job market, but the last couple of jobs reports, plus these latest figures, seem to confirm that we're on our way there.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via