US job openings decline in February amid rising economic uncertainty

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job openings fell in February as rising uncertainty over the economy due to tariffs on imports curbed demand for labor.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, dropped 194,000 to 7.568 million by the last day of February, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday.

Data for January was revised slightly higher to 7.762 million vacancies instead of the previously reported 7.74 million. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 7.61 million unfilled positions. 

Layoffs increased 116,000 to a still-low 1.790 million.

President Donald Trump has made a raft of tariff announcements since returning to the White House on January 20, including hefty duties on imports of steel and aluminum and a 25% levy on imported cars and light trucks. 

Trump promised to announce global reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday, which he has dubbed "Liberation Day." 

He sees tariffs as a tool to raise revenue to offset his promised tax cuts and to revive a long-declining U.S. industrial base. But economists have criticized the import duties as inflationary and harmful to the economy. 

Business and consumer sentiment have slumped. Economists now see higher odds of a recession over the next 12 months than they did before the broad tariffs were announced. Higher prices and snarled supply chains because of import duties could result in layoffs, economists warned. 

A hiring freeze and mass firings of federal workers as part of the Trump administration's unprecedented campaign to drastically downsize the government also are expected to slam brakes on the labor market.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)