WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers posted 7.4 million job vacancies last month, according to a new report from the Labor Department.

The number of job openings in June is down from 7.7 million in May.

Layoffs were little changed, but the number of people quitting their jobs — viewed by economists as a sign of confidence in their prospects elsewhere — dropped last month.

Economists say the nation’s job market has lost momentum this year, partly because of the lingering effects of 11 interest rate hikes by the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023 and partly because President Donald Trump’s trade policies have created uncertainty that is paralyzing managers making hiring decisions.

So far this year, the economy has been generating 130,000 jobs a month, down from 168,000 last year and an average 400,000 a month from 2021 through 2023 during the recovery from COVID-19 government-ordered lockdowns.

On Friday, the Labor Department will put out unemployment and hiring numbers for July. They are expected to show that the unemployment rate ticked up to a still-low 4.2 percent in July from 4.1 percent in June. Businesses, government agencies and nonprofits are expected to have added 115,000 jobs in July, down from 147,000 in June, according to a survey of economists by the data firm FactSet.