Key Points:
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 263,000 in September as the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5%.
- Consensus among economists was a gain of 250,000 jobs.
- In September, the unemployed population fell to 5.75 million but there were 10.1 million job openings in August.
- Leisure and hospitality added 83,000 jobs in September, health care rose by 60,000, professional and business services rose by 46,000, manufacturing added 22,000, and construction increased by 19,000.
- In August, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by $0.10 to $32.46.
- The average workweek for all private employees was 34.5 hours for the fourth month in a row.
- The labor force participation rate decreased over the month to 62.3% and is 1.1% below its February 2020 level.