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Quits rate 3.5 percent in accommodation and food services, August 2026

October 13, 2026

The total nonfarm quits rate—the total number of quits during the entire month as a percentage of employment—was 1.9 percent in August 2026, unchanged from the previous month. A year earlier, in August 2025, the nonfarm quits rate was 2.0 percent. Over the past 10 years, the quits rate has been as low as 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent (April and May, 2020) and as high as 3.0 percent (November 2021 and April 2022).

Quits rates by industry, August, 2026 and 2025, seasonally adjusted
Industry Quits rates (in percent) Change from
Aug 2025 to Aug 2026
(percentage points)
 Aug 2026   Aug 2025 

Accommodation and food services

3.5 3.9 -0.4

Retail trade

3.0 2.4 0.6

Other services

2.7 2.0 0.7

Arts, entertainment, and recreation

2.3 1.1 1.2

Mining and logging

2.3 2.1 0.2

Professional and business services

2.1 2.5 -0.4

Health care and social assistance

2.0 2.2 -0.2

Total, all industries

1.9 2.0 -0.1

Transportation, warehousing, and utilities

1.9 2.0 -0.1

Construction

1.8 1.8 0.0

Manufacturing

1.6 1.3 0.3

Private educational services

1.6 1.5 0.1

Wholesale trade

1.3 1.4 -0.1

Information

1.1 1.2 -0.1

Finance and insurance

1.0 1.2 -0.2

Real estate and rental and leasing

0.9 1.6 -0.7

State and local government, excluding education

0.8 0.8 0.0

State and local goverment education

0.7 0.8 -0.1

Federal government

0.5 0.7 -0.2

Note: Data for the most recent month are preliminary. The quits rate is the number of quits during the entire month as a percent of employment.

In August 2026, the quits rate was 2.1 percent in private industry as a whole, ranging from 0.9 percent in real estate and rental and leasing and 1.0 percent in finance and insurance to 3.0 percent in retail trade and 3.5 percent in accommodation and food services.

The quits rate was 0.7 percent in government, overall. Within government, quits rates were 0.5 percent in federal government, 0.7 percent in state and local government education, and 0.8 percent in state and local government outside of education.

These data are from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. To learn more, see Job Openings and Labor Turnover — August 2026 and charts of job openings, hires, and separations data. Quits are generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee. 

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Quits rate 3.5 percent in accommodation and food services, August 2026 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/quits-rate-3-5-percent-in-accommodation-and-food-services-august-2026.htm (visited October 13, 2026).