Americans still aren't staying in their jobs, even as fears of a recession settle over the economy.
In June, 4.2 million people quit their jobs, according to new data out Tuesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
At the same time, hiring wasn't slowing down: 6.4 million Americans were hired in June, and the layoff rate stayed low at 0.9%. That means that, even as some do see layoffs and hiring slowdowns, workers for the most part aren't worried about walking away from their jobs.
"You can look at a bunch of other metrics and see some sign of cooling in the labor market, but the temperature's still hot," Nick Bunker, economic research director at Indeed Hiring Lab, told Insider, adding: "Workers still have lots of job opportunities right now. They have more bargaining power than they've had in the recent past."
A few industries saw no change or small changes in their quit rates from May to June; the mining and logging industry and manufacturing both saw no changes in their quit rates in June. The quit rate for construction dropped 0.7 percentage points to 2.3%. Leisure and hospitality, which has the highest quit rate among major industries, saw its rate decline 0.1 percentage points to 5.4%.
"There continues to be just a robust desire to hire workers," Bunker said.
While the quit level in June was similar to that the month before, job openings dropped 605,000 from May's 11.3 million to 10.7 million in June.
That could mean a slight slowdown in hiring and that the peak of hiring intentions has passed, according to Bunker.
"We're probably in a situation where many employers are looking around, and they're either staffed up to a certain extent or maybe they're starting to reconsider some of their short-term hiring plans, so they're pulling back a little bit on job openings," he said.
But it's important to consider the context for that tick down in job openings. While it's lower than months prior, it's still far above pre-pandemic highs. As Bunker said: "They've come down the mountain a little bit, but they're still near the summit."
The same goes for industries that are letting workers go. The real estate sector, and the information sector, which includes tech companies, both saw their layoff rates tick up slightly. But, as Bunker notes, they're still low compared to pre-pandemic levels.
"I think, yes, the trend is sort of a pick up in layoffs," he said. "But if those industries are shedding workers at the same rate they were prior to the pandemic, that's still a pretty healthy labor market."
In short: It's not a "big, concerning" trend. And that's true for workers too, who don't seem all that concerned about a potential downturn.
"I think if people thought a recession was imminent or they couldn't find new jobs because employers thought a recession was imminent, we wouldn't see the quit rates at a high," Bunker said.
Have you quit your job? Are you happy about it? Do you regret it? We want to hear from you. Contact these reporters at jkaplan@insider.com and mhoff@insider.com.
