WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose in September, suggesting that demand for labor remains strong despite the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate increases.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased 437,000 to 10.7 million on the last day of September, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 10.0 million vacancies.
The report was published as Fed officials gathered for a two-day policy meeting. The U.S. central bank is expected to deliver another three-quarters of a percentage point rate hike on Wednesday as it fights to cool demand for labor and the overall economy to bring inflation down to its 2% target.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
