The headline unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 percent in September, matching a level it last saw in December 1969, the Labor Department reported this morning This happened even though the economy added just 136,000 jobs for the month, the slowest pace of job growth in four months.
One reason for this anomaly is that the previous two months saw upward revisions in jobs created. August rose sharply, from an initial estimate of 130,000 to 168,000, while July increased from 159,000 to 166,000, for a total net gain of 45,000.
The bulk of the hiring in September was concentrated in the services sector. Education and health care providers added 40,000 positions. Government added 22,000 workers in September, with only 1,000 of the jobs being due to temporary federal hiring for the 2020 Census.
No comments:
Post a Comment