(Yahoo! Finance) - The US economy added 119,000 positions in September, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Thursday, an unexpected boost to the labor market that has lately shown signs of a possible slowdown.
Wall Street economists expected a gain of around 50,000 positions, according to data from Bloomberg. While the September number beat economists’ expectations, revisions to prior months’ data showed August’s payrolls lost 4,000 jobs, compared to the previously reported gain of 22,000. July also showed a slightly smaller boost of 72,000 positions, instead of 79,000.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, crept up to 4.4% in September, the highest level since October 2021, slightly exceeding August’s level of 4.3% and above the rate of 4.1% seen a year ago. The number of unemployed people grew slightly in September, reaching 7.6 million from August’s count of 7.4 million.
“Bottom line: This is a frozen labor market that’s starting to crack,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote on X after the report’s release.
Job gains in September were driven by healthcare, food services and drinking places, and social assistance, the Labor Department said, while losses mounted in transportation, warehousing, and the federal government. The federal government workforce was down 97,000 positions from its peak in January.
As for wages, data showed that average hourly earnings in September were at $36.67, a 3.8% increase in the past year. Importantly, inflation was also up 3% from a year ago in September.
The report was initially scheduled for release on Oct. 3, but was delayed by the government shutdown that ran from Oct. 1 until Nov. 12.
Data from private sources, which provided some insight during the pause, had suggested the labor market continued to sputter in September, with payroll processor ADP reporting that the private sector shed 29,000 jobs during the month. Meanwhile, global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas announced hiring plans were at their lowest since 2009.
Thursday's release will be followed by another lengthy stretch without an official jobs report. The BLS announced on Wednesday that it will not publish the full jobs report for October, citing its inability to adequately collect data during the shutdown. The November jobs report, originally scheduled for release on Dec. 5, will now be published on Dec. 16 and will contain what October data the agency was able to collect.
