Investing.com — US unexpectedly increased slightly in August, potentially indicating some resilience in cooling labor demand in the third quarter.

The closely-monitored Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that available positions, a proxy for labor demand, rose to 8.040 million on the final business day of August, climbing from an upwardly-revised tally of 7.711 million in July. Economists had predicted the so-called JOLTS report would dip marginally to 7.640 million.

In July, the figure slipped to its lowest mark in three-and-a-half years, which was seen as a possible sign that the US jobs market was losing steam — albeit in an orderly fashion.

The figures come after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled Monday that the Fed would likely opt for more traditional quarter-point interest rate cuts moving forward, but stressed that the future path of borrowing costs is not on a preset course.

Powell added that the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee is not “in a hurry to cut rates quickly” despite announcing an outsized 50-basis point drawdown at its Sept. 17-18 gathering.

He defended last month’s decision, saying it reflected the FOMC’s “growing confidence that, with an appropriate recalibration of our policy stance, strength in the labor market can be maintained in a context of moderate economic growth and inflation moving sustainably down to 2%.”

Powell argued as well that the overall economy remains in “solid shape” and he vowed to “use our tools to keep it there.” He told the crowd at an event in Tennessee that “two more cuts” — worth a total of half a percentage point — would be warranted by the end of 2024 “if the economy evolves as expected.”

Elsewhere on Tuesday, the Institute for Supply Management’s came in at 47.2 for September, matching August’s figure. Analysts had seen the number at 47.6. A level below 50 denotes contraction.

Non-manufacturing PMI, which is more focused on the crucial services sector, is due out on Oct. 3 and is tipped to inch up to 51.6 from 51.5 in the prior month.

Analysts at Bank of America predicted in a recent note that the PMI data will suggest that broader economic activity in the US is “cooling, not crumbling.”