WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. job openings increased in July, showing no signs that demand for labor was slowing, which could keep the Federal Reserve on its aggressive monetary policy tightening path.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, rose to 11.239 million on the last day of July, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday. Data for June was revised higher to show 11.040 million job openings instead of 10.698 million as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 10.450 million vacancies.
The Fed is trying to cool demand for labor and the overall economy to bring inflation down to its 2% target.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned last week that Americans were headed for a painful period of slow economic growth and possibly rising unemployment as the U.S. central bank aggressively raises interest rates in a bid to bring supply and demand back into balance. The Fed has raised its policy rate by 225 basis points since March.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)
