Job Openings and Labor Turnover, October 2025

By Lainey Stalnaker, Data Analytics Writer

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), released monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), provides essential information on South Carolina’s labor market.[1] South Carolina’s unemployed persons per job opening ratio remained unchanged from August to September at 0.9. In comparison, the U.S. ratio was 1.0. Unemployment data are not available for October due to the federal government shutdown during that period.

The table below compares unemployed persons per job opening ratios in the Southeast region for the month of September.[1]  South Carolina’s ratio was unchanged from twelve months earlier.

Other key statistics released in the monthly JOLTS report include:   

• Job Openings Rate: The number of positions open during the month as a percentage of all jobs and job openings.
• Hires Rate: The number of people hired during the month as a percentage of total employment.
• Separations Rate: The number of people separated from their jobs during the month as a percentage of total employment. Within this category, the quits rate is the proportion of people who voluntarily left their jobs, while the layoffs rate is the proportion of people who involuntarily left their jobs, which may have resulted from business closures, layoffs, downsizing, or firing for cause. Separations resulting from retirements, transfers, or deaths are included in the total separations rate. 

Job openings rates in the Southeast region were up slightly from September to October. At 5.1, South Carolina’s rate was among the middle of the pack for the region and was on par with neighboring North Carolina. However, the hires rate was down across the region. In South Carolina, the rate fell from 4.2 in August to 3.7 in September, and then to 3.5 in October. Despite this decline, South Carolina’s hiring rate still exceeded that of most other states within the region, a promising trend observed throughout 2025. 

South Carolina recorded the highest separations rate in the region in October. Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina had a quits rate of 2.1, and South Carolina’s layoffs rate increased to 1.5. Though the layoffs rate was higher than a few months ago, it was still lower than in October of last year in South Carolina and across all other states within the region. Separations were also down over the year. Altogether these data suggest low job turnover in the Southeast region, meaning workers were more likely to remain with their current employer. The spike in job openings, however, may signal an increase in job turnover in future months as workers seek out new opportunities. 

[1]https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jltst.nr0.htm 

[2] The Southeast region is defined by the Department of Labor and includes Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.