U.S. job openings fell in June to a nine-month low, suggesting a slight moderation in demand for labor amid growing economic pressures.
The number of available positions decreased to 10.7 million in the month from an upwardly revised 11.3 million in May, the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed Tuesday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 11 million openings.
Despite the drop, the number of vacancies remains elevated as demand for workers broadly outweighs supply. That's contributing to expensive labor costs, though wage growth is falling short of inflation for many Americans.
The labor market has been a bright spot in an economy otherwise losing momentum and possibly heading toward a recession as the Federal Reserve aggressively raises interest rates. Some of the strength is starting to come undone as companies like Shopify and Amazon either cut jobs or freeze hiring amid economic uncertainty.
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Even so, employers continue to report difficulty attracting and retaining workers. The JOLTS data precede Friday's monthly jobs report, which is currently forecast to show the U.S. added roughly 250,000 payrolls in July and the unemployment rate held near a 50-year low.
There were about 1.8 jobs for every unemployed person in June, down slightly from May. The biggest drops in vacancies were in retail and wholesale trade as well as state and local government education. Construction also fell.
Some 4.2 million Americans quit their jobs in June, little changed from the prior month. The quits rate, a measure of voluntary job leavers as a share of total employment, held at 2.8%.
Layoffs dropped slightly in June while hiring eased somewhat.
