Job openings fall by half a million

There were about half a million fewer job openings in May than the previous month, providing at least a modest sign that the ultra-tight labor market could be loosening a bit, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The closely watched

showed that listings fell to 9.82 million, down 496,000 from April and below the 9.9 million consensus estimate from FactSet. Openings outnumbered the available labor pool…