Job openings fell to 10.4 million at the end of September, while 164,000 more people resigned from their job, bringing the total to a record-high of 4.4 million.

The Labor Department reported the new job openings on Friday in the JOLTS report after economists originally projected 10.3 million job openings. About 6.5 million people were hired in September showing similar figures from the past month.

The Great Resignation is not slowing down as more people voluntarily leave their jobs because of the pandemic or being able to find better pay and benefits elsewhere. Industries with the highest percentage of people resigning are trade, utilities, transportation, retail, business services, hotels, health services and restaurants. The South, West and Midwest have the highest percentage of workers quitting their jobs at around 3% each, while 2.2% of people living in the Northeast quit their jobs.

Many workers have struggled in low-paying jobs for so long they do not feel keeping their current job is worth it, despite employers offering higher wages and bonuses.

“There are likely some Delta-induced quits here, workers are fed up with working conditions and feel unsafe and quitting even though they might not immediately jump into a new job,” Daniel Zhao, an economist at Glassdoor, told the Washington Post.

"The pace of people quitting across the labor market is remarkable. Quits are up the most in sectors where most work is in-person or relatively low-paying," said Nick Bunker, director of economic research at the Indeed Hiring Lab.

The U.S. had 1.4 million job terminations or layoffs in September, unchanged from the previous month. Over the past 12 months ending in September, the U.S. added 73.3 million jobs and lost 67.7 million. Despite the resignations, the U.S. has still been able to add 5.6 million jobs.

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