Originally Published: 06 JUL 23 10:27 ET

By Alicia Wallace, CNN

Minneapolis (CNN) — The number of available jobs in the United States dropped in May after an uptick the month before, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.

Job openings fell to 9.82 million at the end of May, dropping from an upwardly revised 10.3 million in April, according to the BLS’ latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report.

Economists had projected that openings fell to 9.935 million for May, according to Refinitiv.

The Federal Reserve has been hoping for more slack in the labor market, since an imbalance between worker demand and supply could cause wages to rise and, ultimately, add upward pressure to inflation. The central bank has tried to tame inflation with 10 consecutive rate hikes, followed by a pause at its June meeting.

The May JOLTS data showed that the number of new hires rose to 6.21 million from 6.1 million, quits jumped up to 4.02 million from 3.77 million and layoffs dipped to 1.56 million from 1.59 million.

As of May, there were 1.6 open jobs for every person looking for one, BLS data shows.

This story is developing and will be updated.