WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. job openings rose modestly in October while layoffs fell, suggesting the labor market continues to slow in an orderly manner.
Job openings, which is a measure of the demand for workers, increased by 372,000 million to 7.744 million on the last day of October, said the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday.
September data was revised down to show 7.372 million unfilled positions instead of the previously reported 7.443 million. Economists polled by Reuters had predicted 7.475 million job openings. The employed decreased by 269,000 to 5.313 million. Layoffs fell by 169,000 to 1.633 million.
Storms and strikes disrupted the labor market in October. As rebuilding continues in hurricane-ravaged areas and strikes at Boeing (NYSE: ) and other aerospace companies are winding down, a sharp acceleration in job growth is expected in November.
A Reuters poll of economists estimated that payrolls rose by 200,000 jobs last month after rising by just 12,000 in October, the smallest since December 2020. The unemployment rate is forecast to reach 4.2% from 4.1% in October.
The highly anticipated November employment report, due out on Friday, is among the key data that could determine whether the Federal Reserve will introduce a third consecutive interest rate cut this month amid a lack of progress in easing monetary policy back to the US central bank’s 2% target.
