(CNN) — Job opportunities didn’t shrink as feared in October and instead climbed to a five-month high. However, new shutdown-delayed data released Tuesday also showed that there’s still a deep chill running through the US labor market.

Hiring continued to stall, layoff activity picked up, and employees clung to their jobs with white knuckles: The voluntary quits rate (a closely watched indicator of worker confidence) fell to a five-year low.

There were an estimated 7.67 million US jobs available at the end of October, a slight increase from 7.66 million in September and 7.23 million in August (which was last available data prior to the federal shutdown), according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Still, despite the

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