A historically high number of people quit their jobs in October, according to data released by the Department of Labor on Wednesday.

Some 4.2 million workers quit their jobs in October, down from a record of 4.4 million the month before. The previous all-time high represented the most people quitting since the United States began keeping records of the statistic about two decades ago and is equivalent to about 3% of the country’s labor force.

The rate measures the number of people who voluntarily left their jobs and includes those who left their job for another one and people who quit and are confident they will soon find new employment, given the tight labor market.

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"This report once again shows strong demand from employers leading to a hot labor market. The bargaining table is tilted more toward workers than it has been in the past. The market for new hires continues to be quite tight," said Nick Bunker, Indeed Hiring Lab director of research.

The number of job openings increased from the month before, with about 11 million openings in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Job openings increased by the largest margin in the accommodation and food services space, followed by nondurable goods manufacturing. Openings also increased in educational services.

"As of October, demand for workers was strong resulting in many opportunities for them. However, these data cover a period before the existence of the omicron variant was even known. We’ll have to see how the labor market handles the latest pandemic challenge," Bunker said.

The news comes on the heels of a worse-than-anticipated jobs report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said last week that the U.S. added just 210,000 new jobs in November, much fewer than the half-million that economists had predicted.

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Despite the meager gains, the unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 4.2%. The U.S. is still millions of jobs short of where it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic when unemployment was at a record 3.5%.