WASHINGTON — U.S. job openings rose unexpectedly in November, showing companies are still looking for workers even as the labor market has cooled overall.

Openings rose to 8.1 million in November, the most since February and up from 7.8 million in October, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. They were down from 8.9 million a year earlier and a peak of 12.2 million in March 2022 as the economy was roaring back from COVID-19 lockdowns. But they still exceed pre-pandemic levels.

Economists had expected job openings to fall slightly in November.

Layoffs Rise, Quits Fall

Layoffs rose slightly in November, and the number of people quitting their jobs fell, suggesting that Americans are less confident in their ability to find better jobs elsewhere.

Openings were up in professional and business services, a broad category that includes managerial and technical workers, and in finance and insurance. They fell in the information industry, which includes publishers and telecommunications companies.

Related Story: Goldman Sachs: AI to Displace 300 Million Jobs, Make Inequality Worse

Labor Market Cooling

The American labor market has cooled from the red hot hiring of 2021-2023. Employers added 180,000 jobs a month in 2024 through November, not bad but down from 251,000 in 2023, 377,000 in 2022 and a record 604,000 in 2021.

When the Labor Department releases December hiring numbers on Friday, they’re expected to show that companies, government agencies and nonprofit organizations added nearly 157,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.2%.

The numbers were volatile during the fall: In October, hurricanes and a strike at Boeing limited job growth to just 36,000. In November, with the strike over, payrolls bounced back, growing to 227,000.

Federal Reserve Monitoring

The Federal Reserve closely monitors the labor market for clues about where inflation is headed. Fast hiring could push up wages and prices. Weakness might suggest the economy needs a jolt from lower interest rates.

Responding to inflation that hit four-decade highs two and a half years ago, the Fed raised its benchmark rate 11 times in 2022 and 2023. Inflation came down — from 9.1% in mid-2022 to 2.7% in November, allowing the Fed to start cutting rates. But progress on inflation has stalled in recent months, and year-over-year consumer price increases are stuck above the Fed’s 2% target.

At its December meeting, the Fed cut its benchmark interest rate for the third time in 2024. But the central bank’s policymakers signaled that they’re likely to be more cautious about future rate cuts: They projected just two in 2025, down from the four they had foreseen in September.

Related Story: Federal Reserve Cuts Its Key Rate by a Quarter-Point but Envisions Fewer ...

Economists also worry that President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed policies — including taxes on foreign goods and the deportation of immigrants working in the U.S. illegally — will push prices higher.

“Despite more job openings, hiring is weakening, workers are even more reluctant to quit their jobs, and layoffs are low,” said Robert Frick, economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union. “It feels like a wait-and-see scenario as employers and employees alike wait for the next administration’s policies.”