a sign for hire is posted on the window of a chipotle restaurant in new york city us april 29 2022 reutersshannon stapletonfile photo washington aug 2 reuters  us job openings fell more than expected in june suggesting that demand for labor was starting to cool which could ease the pressure on the federal reserve to continue aggressively raising interest rates job openings a measure of labor demand were down 605000 to 107 million on the last day of june the labor department said in its monthly job openings and labor turnover survey or jolts report on tuesday economists polled by reuters had forecast 110 million vacancies the fed is trying to dampen demand for labor and the overall economy to bring inflation down to its 2 target the us central bank last week raised its policy rate by another threequarters of a percentage point it has now hiked that rate by 225 basis points since march the government reported last week that wages and salaries surged 14 in the second quarter after rising 12 in the januarymarch period they accelerated 53 on a yearonyear basis the largest increase since the current series started in 2001