WASHINGTON – In October, U.S. job openings remained relatively stable, signaling continuing uncertainty about the trajectory of the nation’s economy. According to the latest data from the Labor Department, employers posted approximately 7.67 million job vacancies, a figure nearly unchanged from September’s 7.66 million.

This data, derived from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), was disclosed later than usual due to delays caused by the prolonged government shutdown. The report also highlighted an increase in layoffs and a decline in the number of workers voluntarily leaving their jobs—a traditional indicator of confidence in the job market.

Since reaching a record high of 12.1 million in March 2022, when the economy was rebounding robustly from COVID-19 lockdowns, job openings have gradually decreased. This cooling of the job market is partly attributed to the Federal Reserve’s high interest rates in 2022 and 2023, aimed at curbing a surge in inflation.

The current economic climate in the United States presents a complex picture. It is further complicated by former President Donald Trump’s policy shift away from decades of free trade, opting instead to impose substantial tariffs on imports from numerous countries worldwide.

Overall, it’s a puzzling time for the American economy, buffeted by President Donald Trump’s decision to reverse decades of U.S. policy in favor of free trade and instead impose double-digit tariffs on imports from most of the world’s countries.

Policymakers at the Federal Reserve are meeting this week to decide whether to cut their benchmark interest rate, and the gathering is expected to be unusually contentious. Inflation remains stuck above the Fed’s 2% target, partly because importers have tried to pass along the cost of Trump’s tariffs by raising prices. Normally, stubborn inflation would discourage Fed policymakers from cutting rates. But the job market has looked shaky in recent months, and the Fed is expected to reduce its benchmark rate for the third time this year, though some policymakers might dissent.

Meanwhile, the 43-day federal shutdown has made a mess of the government’s economic statistics.

The October report on job openings came out a week late, and the September version was not published separately because federal data collectors were on furlough. Instead, September’s JOLTS numbers were folded into Tuesday’s report along with October’s.

The Labor Department will issue numbers for hiring and unemployment in November next Tuesday, 11 days later than originally scheduled. The department is not releasing an unemployment rate for October because it could not calculate the number during the shutdown. It will release some of the October jobs data — including the number of positions that employers created that month — along with the full November jobs report.

Forecasters surveyed by the data firm FactSet predict that employers added fewer than 38,000 jobs in November and that the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.5% from September’s 4.4%, how by historical standards but the highest in nearly four years.