*Oops. This is not what economists were expecting. Not to mention the Biden administration. We’re talking about the September jobs report.
Here’s more via CNBC:
The U.S. economy created jobs at a much slower than expected pace in September, a pessimistic sign about the state of the economy though the total was held back substantially by a sharp drop in government employment.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by just 194,000 in the month, compared to the Dow Jones estimate of 500,000, the Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 4.8%, better than the expectation for 5.1% and the lowest since February 2020.
The headline number was hurt by a 123,000 decline in government payrolls, while private payrolls increased by 317,000. The drop in the jobless rate came as labor force participation edged lower. A more encompassing number that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons fell to 8.5%, also a pandemic-era low.
“This is quite a deflating report,” said Nick Bunker, economic research director at jobs placement site Indeed. “This year has been one of false dawns for the labor market. Demand for workers is strong and millions of people want to return to work, but employment growth has yet to find its footing.”
Nevertheless, markets reacted little to the news, with Dow futures around flat for the morning and government bond yields mixed as investors digested what was a mixed bag of a report.
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