A worker weighing whether to leave a job faces a personal calculation: another offer, savings, family needs and the cost of a gap in pay. The national quits rate cannot settle that choice. It counts voluntary departures across a broad set of employers, offering a signal about workers’ willingness or ability to move. In August 2026, the latest available JOLTS report showed a 1.9% quits rate, unchanged from July. That figure describes a labor-market pattern, not any individual’s prospects. Bureau of Labor Statistics
What the rate counts
Quits are separations initiated voluntarily by employees, with retirements and transfers to another location of the same firm counted elsewhere. The quits rate divides quits by employment, expressing departures relative to the payroll base. It is not simply a tally of people who are dissatisfied or actively job hunting. Bureau of Labor Statistics
The distinction matters because “separations” is a larger category. In August, total separations were 5.1 million, or 3.2% of employment. That total included 3.1 million quits, 1.6 million layoffs and discharges, and 363,000 other separations, including retirement, disability, death and transfers. A layoff is an employer-initiated, involuntary separation; it does not count as a quit. Bureau of Labor Statistics
A clue about mobility, not a verdict
When more workers leave voluntarily, it can be consistent with a labor market in which people feel able to pursue another job or improve their circumstances. The Bureau of Labor Statistics describes the rate as a measure of workers’ willingness or ability to leave jobs. A falling rate can therefore suggest less movement, but it does not reveal whether workers are content, cautious, constrained or simply waiting for a better moment. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Suppose a hypothetical employee has begun considering resignation. A national rate cannot say whether that worker has a competing offer, whether a new job would pay more, or whether household costs make a break unaffordable. The figure is a broad measure of departures, not a survey of each worker’s options or motives.
August’s snapshot has boundaries
The August report recorded 3.1 million quits and a 1.9% rate, both unchanged over the month. It also showed 7.1 million openings and 5.2 million hires. These measures give context for labor demand and movement, but they do not establish that any particular opening is suitable for someone considering a move. Bureau of Labor Statistics
JOLTS counts payroll changes at nonfarm businesses and government entities. Its monthly estimates come from a survey of establishments, and revisions can follow as more reports arrive. The August release revised July quits upward by 33,000, a reminder that early figures can change. The September JOLTS release is scheduled for November 3, 2026, so August remains the latest report on November 1. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Keep worker counts in their lane
The quits rate also differs from the unemployment rate. Unemployment statistics come from a household survey and classify people by whether they have a job, are actively looking and are available for work. A person who leaves a job to search for another may be counted as unemployed if they meet those criteria; leaving voluntarily does not itself define unemployment. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Read the measures together, but do not treat either as an answer to an individual’s decision. Quits show how frequently workers leave payroll jobs voluntarily across the labor market. Unemployment describes joblessness under a separate set of survey rules. For a person weighing a resignation, the rate can provide context about mobility, while the person’s own offer, finances and obligations determine the practical choice.
Sources & further reading
- August 2026 job openings and labor turnover ↗Bureau of Labor Statistics
- How the government measures unemployment ↗Bureau of Labor Statistics
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