File - An employee works on a solar panel inside the Hanwha Qcells Solar plant on Oct. 16, 2023, in Dalton, Ga. On Wednesday, the Labor Department reports on job openings and labor turnover for September. WASHINGTON — Employers posted 9.6 million job openings in September, up from 9.5 million in August and a sign that the U.S. job market remains strong even as the U.S. Federal Reserve attempts to cool the economy.
The September openings are down from a record 12 million in March 2022 but remain high by historical standards. Before 2021 — when the American economy began to surge from the COVID-19 pandemic — monthly job openings had never topped 8 million. Unemployment was 3.8% in September, just a couple of ticks above a half century low.
The Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times since March 2022 in an effort to contain inflation that hit a four-decade high in 2022. In September, consumer prices were up 3.7% from a year earlier, down from a peak 9.1% in June last year but still above the Fed’s 2% target.