WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. job openings increased marginally in August while hiring declined, consistent with softening labor market conditions that could allow the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates again next month despite resilient consumer spending.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, rose 19,000 to 7.227 million by the last day of August, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 7.185 million unfilled jobs.

With the government likely to shut down when funding runs out at midnight on Tuesday, the report could be the last key economic data in a while. The Labor and Commerce departments said on Monday all data releases, including September’s employ

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