U.S. job openings and hiring fell in June, supporting the view that employment growth was slowing down after robust gains last year.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, slipped by 36,000 to a seasonally adjusted 7.3 million in June, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, on Tuesday. Since hitting an all-time high of 7.6 million in late 2018, job openings have been flat this year, suggesting some cooling in the labor market.
The job openings rate dipped to 4.6% from 4.7% in May. Hiring decreased by 58,000 jobs to 5.7 million in June. The hiring rate was unchanged at 3.8%.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 164,000 jobs in July, down from 193,000 in June, the government reported last Friday. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%.