WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose in December and data for the prior month was revised higher, suggesting the labor market likely remains too strong for the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates in the first quarter.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, were up 101,000 to 9.026 million on the last day of December, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday.
Data for November was revised higher to show 8.925 million unfilled positions instead of the previously reported 8.79 million. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 8.75 million job openings in November.
Job openings peaked at a record 12.0 million in March 2022.
Fed officials are expected to keep interest rates unchanged at the end of a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday against the backdrop of a resilient economy, which is being anchored by the labor market through consumer spending. Financial markets have lowered the odds of a rate cut in March to below 50%.
Since March 2022, the U.S. central bank has raised it policy rate by 525 basis points to the current 5.25%-5.50% range.
The Labor Department is expected to report on Friday that nonfarm payrolls increased by 180,000 jobs in January, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The economy added 216,000 positions in December.
Though employment growth has slowed from the brisk pace seen in 2022, the increase in payrolls remains well above the roughly 100,000 jobs needed per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population.
The unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 3.8% from 3.7% in December. The jobless rate has remained below 4% as companies hoard workers following difficulties finding labor in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)
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