More Americans are quitting their jobs, and that's a good thing economists say, because it means workers are more optimistic about their job prospects.

When someone quits their job, it also opens up an employment opportunity for someone else, assuming the job is refilled, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The quit rate, or the percentage of Americans who chose to leave their job, rose to 1.8 percent in November, the highest since the economic recovery began in June 2009.

Editor's Note: Secret Wall Street Calendar Uses Strange ‘Crash Alert System,’ Gets 18.79% Annual Returns

The rate hit a nadir of 1.2 percent in September 2009.

Much of the wage increases that American workers enjoy during their careers stem from job switches, studies show. And a flexible job market ensures that workers are in the jobs that best match their skills and goals, The Journal reports.

To be sure, about 20 percent of November's quits came in the "accommodation and food services" sector, where turnover is often high and pay is often low. That's up from 17.5 percent two years earlier.

At the same time, just 5.2 percent of November's quits came in manufacturing, where jobs generally pay more. That's down from 5.9 percent two years ago.

Meanwhile, workers' wages rose only 1.9 percent last year.

"People are running in place in terms of their living standards," Ethan Harris, co-head of global economics at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, tells The New York Times. "There’s almost no growth in spending power."

Editor's Note: Secret Wall Street Calendar Uses Strange ‘Crash Alert System,’ Gets 18.79% Annual Returns

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