Retail sector weighs on job openings in December

A steep decline in retail job vacancies pulled down the number of jobs open in the United States in December, a government report showed on Tuesday.

Job openings - a measure of labor demand - slipped to 3.6 million from 3.8 million in November, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

Retail sector job openings dropped 76,000 to 420,000, while manufacturing saw openings declining to 259,000 from 281,000 in November.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)