Jobs Report: Unemployment Rises, Job Creation Misses Expectations

The Labor Department reported on Friday the U.S. economy added 156,000 jobs in September, significantly below the median forecast for 175,000 jobs. The unemployment rate rose to 5.0%, which was expected to remain unchanged at 4.9%.

The increase in the unemployment rate was largely the result of Hispanic unemployment, which increased to 6.4% in September. The unemployment rates for adult men (4.7%), adult women (4.4%), teenagers (15.8%), Whites (4.4%), Blacks (8.3%), and Asians (3.9%) showed little or no change.

Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate rose just slightly to 62.9%, while the less-cited but arguably more important employment-population ratio, at 59.8%, was relatively unchanged.

Though they don’t always track together, the Labor Department report conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) mirrored the private sector ADP National Employment Report. Both showed job gains were largely in low-paying sectors. As a result, there were little wage and workweek gains in the month of September.

Retail trade employment continued to trend up over the month (+22,000), including clothing and clothing accessories stores (+14,000) and in gasoline stations (+8,000). Over the year, employment in retail trade increase by 317,000. Employment in food services and drinking places continued to add jobs (+30,000) and has increased by 300,000 over the year.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by an abysmal 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours. In manufacturing, the workweek also increased by 0.1 hour to 40.7 hours, while overtime was unchanged at 3.3 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.5 hours. Wages rose by just 6 cents to $25.79. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.6%.

Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by just 5 cents to $21.68.