WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose in April and data for the prior month was revised higher, pointing to persistent strength in the labor market that could compel the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again in June.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased by 358,000 to 10.1 million by the last day of April, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Wednesday. Data for March was revised higher to show 9.75 million job openings instead of the previously reported 9.59 million.
The April data ended three straight monthly decreases in job vacancies. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 9.375 million job openings.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)
