US job openings increase moderately in August; hiring declines

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. job openings increased marginally in August while hiring declined, consistent with softening labor market conditions that could allow the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates again next month despite resilient consumer spending.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, rose 19,000 to 7.227 million by the last day of August, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 7.185 million unfilled jobs.

With the government likely to shut down when funding runs out at midnight on Tuesday, the report could be the last key economic data in a while. The Labor and Commerce departments said on Monday all data releases, including September's employment report due on Friday, would be suspended.

Hiring decreased 114,000 to 5.126 million in August. Layoffs dropped 62,000 to 1.725 million.

The labor market has softened amid slowing demand for workers, with economists blaming a lagging drag from uncertainty stemming from tariffs on imports. An immigration crackdown has also reduced labor supply, creating what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has described as a "curious balance."

The U.S. central bank resumed?easing policy this month, cutting its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to the 4.00%-4.25% range, to aid the labor market.?

Nonfarm payroll gains averaged only 29,000 jobs per month in the three months to August compared to 82,000 during the same period last year. But a raft of fairly strong reports, including second-quarter gross domestic product and August consumer spending, raised questions about whether more rate reductions were warranted this year.?

Economists expect the Fed to put more emphasis on the labor market. Nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 50,000 jobs in September after rising only 22,000 in August, a Reuters survey of economists showed. The unemployment rate was forecast unchanged at 4.3%.?

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)