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. The labor market has softened amid slowing demand for workers, with economists blaming a lagging drag from uncertainty stemming from tariffs on imports. Economists expect the Fed to put more emphasis on the labor market. Nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 50,000 jobs in September after rising only 22,000 in August, a Reuters survey of economists showed.