(Recasts, adds JOLTS data, analyst and Atlanta Fed president comments, banks" 10-year yield targets) By Karen Pierog CHICAGO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields rose on Monday as record-high job openings on top of stronger-than-expected employment gains in July added to the narrative of an improving labor market. The benchmark 10-year yield, which hit its highest level since July 16 at 1.32%, was last up 2.9 basis points at 1.317%. On Friday, it climbed to a two-week high of 1.305% after July"s solid employment report was seen as moving the U.S. Federal Reserve closer to a policy decision on unwinding stimulus measures put into place last year to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, shot up by 590,000 to a record-high 10.1 million on the last day of June, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Monday in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). That report brought yields off of their lows, according to Lou Brien, a market strategist at DRW Trading in Chicago. "The yield high on Friday was tested early this morning, and the level held," he said. "But the move generated by the JOLTS pushed the yield above that key level, and so far there it remains." On Monday, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic said the central bank could begin to taper its asset purchases between October and December if there are one or two more months of strong job gains. Meanwhile, the market was awaiting Wednesday"s release of Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for July. "Last week was all about jobs; this week is all about inflation," said Bill Merz, chief fixed income strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, adding that "inflation data that surprises to the upside" could push yields higher. In June, consumer prices increased 0.9%, the largest gain in 13 years, after advancing 0.6% in May. In the 12 months through June, the CPI jumped 5.4%, the largest increase since August 2008. Merz said the market is in general agreement with the Fed about inflation remaining relatively transitory, but sees impediments to real economic growth. "If we start to see data that challenges either one of those narratives, that"s what we expect to move Treasury yields. We got some of that on Friday when we had a very strong jobs report that implied higher growth potential, so yields rose," he said. Two major U.S. banks, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have cut their targets for the 10-year yield at year end to 1.6% and 1.75% respectively. The U.S. Treasury plans to auction $58 billion of three-year notes on Tuesday, $41 billion of 10-year notes on Wednesday and $27 billion of 30-year bonds on Thursday. The two-year Treasury yield was last up less than a basis point at 0.2163%. A closely watched part of the yield curve that measures the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes was last less than a basis point steeper at 109.90 basis points. August 9 Monday 12:45AM New York / 1645 GMT Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 0.05 0.0507 0.000 Six-month bills 0.05 0.0507 0.000 Two-year note 99-210/256 0.2163 0.008 Three-year note 99-224/256 0.418 0.013 Five-year note 99-50/256 0.7903 0.026 Seven-year note 99-94/256 1.0945 0.026 10-year note 102-208/256 1.317 0.029 20-year bond 106-56/256 1.872 0.031 30-year bond 109-60/256 1.9637 0.031 DOLLAR SWAP SPREADS Last (bps) Net Change (bps) U.S. 2-year dollar swap 9.00 -0.50 spread U.S. 3-year dollar swap 12.25 -0.25 spread U.S. 5-year dollar swap 9.25 0.25 spread U.S. 10-year dollar swap 1.75 -0.50 spread U.S. 30-year dollar swap -27.25 -0.75 spread (Reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Dan Grebler and Alistair Bell) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.