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STORY: U.S. job openings unexpectedly increased in August after two straight months of declines.

That's according to a report from the Labor Department on Tuesday that showed there were more than 8 million job openings at the end of last month, more than economists polled by Reuters had expected, and that was nearly 330,000 more job openings than the month before.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, otherwise known as the JOLTS report, also showed that the number of new hires in August slipped, but so, too, did the number of layoffs.

Overall, the survey reflected a labor market that, while slowing, remains relatively resilient.

The U.S. Federal Reserve, which had hiked interest rates to combat inflation, cut rates by an outsized half-percentage point last month in a nod to rising concerns over the health of the labor market.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Monday that "labor market conditions have clearly cooled over the past year," but added that the central bank was not "in a hurry to cut rates quickly."

The Fed is expected to cut interest rates again in November and December.

Its next key piece of jobs data comes Friday, with the release of September's nonfarm payrolls report.