by paul gomme and peter rupert
The BLS is back! Employment rose 119,000 in September, neither high enough nor low enough to change anyone’s mind about the state of the economy, although it was more than twice as high as the Dow Jones consensus of 50,000. In August employment fell by 4,000 after a downward revision.
The private sector added 97,000 jobs and the government sector added back 22,000 jobs after shedding 22,000 jobs in August. The service sector added the bulk of jobs, growing 87,000.
The unemployment rate ticked up from 4.32% to 4.40% but still remains relatively low but has increased substantially for African Americans and spiked for those without a high school degree.
At the end of the day, the report will most likely not change anyone’s opinion about their view of the current stance of the economy or monetary policy.
