The Talent Market Pulse
The numbers that moved, once a month.
A free monthly email for talent leaders, agency operators and investors: the jobs, openings, quits, pay and staffing readings that moved, what they mean for a hiring team, and the newest research, with the source under every figure.
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Latest issue · Issue 1 · October 2026
Low hire, low fire: about one job seeker per opening
September added 29,000 jobs and unemployment edged up to 4.2%. Openings slipped to 7.1 million and quits held at 1.9%, which leaves about one unemployed person for every open job, against one for every two openings in March 2022.
Payroll employment
+29,000
September 2026, against +133,000 in August
Unemployment rate
4.2%
September 2026, against 4.1% in August
Unemployed people per job opening
0.99
August 2026, against 0.94 in July
What you get
Once a month
After the first-Friday jobs report, with the latest job openings and turnover data beside it.
Every figure sourced
Each number links to the release it came from, and any figure we compute says how.
Two minutes to read
The readings that moved, the prior month for comparison, and what they mean for a hiring team.
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All issues
Issue 1 · October 2026 ·
Low hire, low fire: about one job seeker per openingThe September jobs report and August job openings.