Data through: September 2026 · updated Nov 4 · Updates: Monthly · Next: Dec 1
MThe three bars show the last 3 months for this indicator, oldest left to newest right. Bar height reflects each reading relative to the other two — the tallest is the highest of the three, the shortest the lowest.
Historical context: Currently in the 52nd percentile of all historical readings.
What this means right now: The quit rate is healthy — between 2.0% and 2.5%, the most common state: about half of all months since 2000 (162 of 310). Workers feel confident enough to leave for better jobs; the unemployment rate in those months was typically 4.5%.
JOLTS Quit Rate · Monthly · 2000–2026
NBER recessions
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Monthly values
JOLTS Quit Rate — the last 12 months
Every month's reading, with the band the heatmap gives it. The chart above shows the same series in full.
Month
Value
Band
Sep 2026
2.1%
Healthy reading
Aug 2026
1.9%
Within normal range
Jul 2026
1.9%
Within normal range
Jun 2026
2.0%
Healthy reading
May 2026
2.0%
Healthy reading
Apr 2026
1.9%
Within normal range
Month-end readings of the same series as the chart. Values are the current record, not point-in-time: a month that has since been revised shows its revised value.
What is the Quit Rate?
The quit rate measures the percentage of total employed workers who voluntarily left their jobs in a given month. It is often called the "Great Resignation indicator" — when workers quit voluntarily, they do so because they are confident about finding a better job. The quit rate is therefore a direct measure of worker confidence and labor market health from the employee's perspective.
High quit rates go with a tight labor market: workers feel able to leave unsatisfying jobs, negotiate better pay elsewhere, or change careers. Low quit rates mean workers are staying put: people stay in jobs they might otherwise leave because alternatives are scarce or uncertain. In the post-COVID "Great Resignation" the quit rate reached its record, 3.0% in November 2021.
How We Color-Code the Quit Rate
Our heatmap colors this indicator against historically significant thresholds:
Below 1.0%
Never recorded — the survey's low is 1.2%, in August–September 2009
1.0% – 1.5%
Low quits — workers staying put. Rare: 21 months since 2000, all in 2009–12, during and after the financial-crisis recession
1.5% – 2.0%
Moderate — workers leaving at a reduced pace; about 1 month in 3 since 2000 (102 of 310), in 2002–04, 2007–15, 2020 and since 2024
2.0% – 2.5%
Healthy quits — workers confident of alternatives; the most common state, about half of all months since 2000 (162 of 310)
2.5% or above
Very high quits — reached only in the Great Resignation of 2021–23 (25 months)
Historical Extremes — What Happened Next?
When this indicator reaches extreme levels, history shows consistent patterns:
Nov 2021Great Resignation Peak
3.0%
The highest quit rate since the survey began in 2000 — 3.0% of workers left their jobs in the month, a level matched only in April 2022. Average hourly earnings were rising 5.4% a year that month. They reached 5.9% in March 2022 — the fastest pay growth in the site's data outside the April–May 2020 distortion.
Aug 2009Financial Crisis Bottom
1.2%
Workers were too afraid to quit. The lowest quit rate in the survey's history, 1.2% in August 2009, came two months after the 2008–09 recession ended, with the unemployment rate at 9.6%.
2019Pre-COVID Equilibrium
Quit rate: 2.3–2.4%
A healthy pre-COVID quit rate — between 2.3% and 2.4% through 2019, a tight but sustainable labor market.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the quit rate considered a measure of economic health?
Workers only quit voluntarily when they are confident about their alternatives. The decision to quit requires believing that another job is available, that income can be maintained during a job search, and that future prospects are good. This voluntary optimism makes the quit rate a genuine measure of worker confidence — it reflects actual behavior with real financial consequences.
What was the "Great Resignation" and why did it happen?
The Great Resignation was the 2021-2022 period when quit rates reached all-time highs as workers left jobs in record numbers. Multiple factors converged. Unprecedented labor shortages gave workers enormous leverage; COVID stimulus provided a financial cushion during transitions; remote work opened geographic options. Many workers also used the pandemic as a catalyst to reassess career satisfaction. The quit rate reached 3.0% in November 2021, the survey's record.
Does a declining quit rate mean workers are more satisfied?
Not necessarily. Falling quits have usually come with a weakening job market. In about 3 of every 4 months since 2001 when the quit rate was lower than a year before, unemployment was higher (76 of 102, leaving out 2020–21). When other jobs are scarcer, people stay put, so a falling quit rate is better read as a loosening labor market than as happier workers.
Which industries have the highest and lowest quit rates?
This site holds only the total quit rate, so it cannot rank industries. In the BLS's published industry figures, leisure and hospitality usually has the highest quit rate and government the lowest.
Why is the quits rate considered a measure of worker confidence rather than job dissatisfaction?
Workers quit voluntarily when they are confident they can find a better job quickly — either because they already have an offer or because the labor market is tight enough that they expect one soon. A high quit rate therefore reflects worker bargaining power and healthy demand for labor. When the quit rate falls sharply, workers are staying put out of caution. Pay growth has tended to follow: the quit rate's twelve-month changes line up best with pay growth's about six months later (correlation 0.6). After the sharp falls of 2008 and 2022, pay growth was lower a year later both times.