U.S. job openings fell slightly in January

 U.S. job openings fell slightly in January, while hiring also declined as labor market conditions continued to gradually ease. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, fell by 26,000 to 8.863 million on the last day of January, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report.

December's data was revised downward to show 8.889 million job openings, instead of the 9.026 million previously reported. Economists predict there will be 8.9 million job openings in January. In March 2022, job vacancies peaked at a record 12 million. Recruitment fell by 100,000 jobs to 5,687,000. The number of resignations in January was 3.385 million, a decrease of 54,000.

In prepared remarks to lawmakers on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the Fed expected to begin cutting interest rates this year, but warned that there was uncertainty about the economic outlook and that continued progress toward the 2% inflation target was unlikely. uncertain. Since March 2022, the Federal Reserve has raised its policy interest rate by 525 basis points to the current range of 5.25%-5.50%. The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that nonfarm payrolls rose by 200,000 in February, according to a survey of economists. The economy added 353,000 jobs in January. Job growth has slowed from the strong pace in 2022, but wage gains are well above the roughly 100,000 jobs needed each month to keep up with growth in the working-age population. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 3.7%, with annual wage growth slowing to 4.4% from 4.5% in January.