US job openings rise in July after sharp downward revision in prior month

WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - U.S. job openings increased in July amid a surge in manufacturing vacancies, but weak hiring suggested the labor market remained in a holding pattern.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, had risen by 89,000 to 7.271 million by the last day of July, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday. Data for June was revised lower to show 7.182 million unfilled positions instead of the previously reported 7.359 million.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 7.300 million unfilled positions in July. The response rate to the JOLTS survey has dropped to just above 30% from around 58% before the COVID-19 pandemic, leading some economists to caution against placing too much emphasis on the report when trying to gauge the labor market's health.

Unfilled jobs in the manufacturing sector increased by 79,000 in July, nearly all of them in the durable goods industries. There were 65,000 job openings in the professional and business services sector. The overall job openings rate rose to 4.4% from 4.3% in June.