U.S. Economy adds 248,000 jobs, Unemployment Rate Dips below 6%

THE highlights from the BLS report:

From the Household Survey:

In September, the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 5.9 percent. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 329,000 to 9.3 million.  Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons were down by 1.3 percentage points and 1.9 million, respectively.
The civilian labor force participation rate, at 62.7 percent, changed little in September. The employment-population ratio was 59.0 percent for the fourth consecutive month.
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed in September at 7.1 million.  These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part
time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

In September, 2.2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.)  These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work,and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

And from the Establishment Survey:

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 248,000 in September, compared with an average monthly gain of 213,000 over the prior 12 months. In September, job growth occurred in professional and business services, retail trade, and health care.
In September, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.6 hours. The manufacturing workweek was unchanged at 40.9 hours, and factory overtime edged up by 0.1 hour to 3.5 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls
edged down by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, at $24.53, changed little in September (-1 cent). Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.0 percent. In September, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees were unchanged at $20.67. 

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised from +212,000 to +243,000, and the change for August was revised from +142,000 to +180,000.  With these revisions, employment gains in July and August combined were 69,000 more than previously reported.

I’ll have more on the report either later today or this weekend.

John Haskell

About John Haskell

John graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a degree in Political Science, and from the University of Maine School of Law. He has worked in both the public and private sectors, and currently, works with a small business services company in the Mid-Coast area.