U.S. Jobs Report - October 4

[dan_s]

U.S. employers added fewer jobs than expected in September and wage gains slowed, adding to evidence of decelerating growth in the domestic economy. But in a sign of a still-tight labor market, the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined to a fresh five-decade low of 3.5%.

Here were the main numbers from the Department of Labor’s September jobs report, versus consensus expectations compiled by Bloomberg:

> Nonfarm payrolls: 136,000 vs. +145,000 expected and +168,000 in August
> Unemployment rate: 3.5% vs. 3.7% expected and 3.7% in August < This is the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years!.
> Average hourly earnings MoM: +0.00% vs. +0.2% expected and +0.4% in August
> Average hourly earnings YoY: +2.9% vs. +3.2% expected and +3.2% in August

Friday’s jobs report also saw August’s payroll additions upwardly revised to 168,000, from the 130,000 previously reported, and July’s job gains were revised up by 7,000 to 166,000. Combined with September’s print, the new three-month average for job gains was just under 157,000, versus about 189,000 during the same three months of 2018.
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MY TAKE: At an unemployment rate of 3.5% it seems that anyone that wants a job can get a job. It is hard for me to see this as a negative report. Sure payroll growth is slowing a bit, but maybe we are running out of people that want to work.

Read more here: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jobs-rep ... 16821.html