Job openings edge lower, hiring rate accelerates

The number of job openings fell slightly in August, a troubling sign for a labor market that is recovering at a painfully slow pace.

Job openings - a measure of labor demand - dropped to 3.56 million from 3.59 million in July, the Labor Department said on Wednesday in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

The hiring rate, however, improved modestly to 3.3 percent in August.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by James Dalgleish)