U.S. job openings increase in January; layoffs decline

U.S. job openings increased in January, but demand for labour is likely to soften in the months ahead amid concerns that uncertainty over import tariffs and aggressive government spending cuts could cause a sharp slowdown in economic activity. Job openings, a measure of labour demand, rose 232,000 to 7.740 million on the last day of January, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday. Data for December was revised lower to show 7.508 million vacancies instead of the previously reported 7.600 million. Economists polled by Reuters had…