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Good news arrived for the volatile U.S. labor market on Friday, as September payroll growth beat economists’ expectations.
Earlier this year, a customer at a Home Depot in California walks past a “We’re Hiring” sign.
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important facts
The United States added 254,000 jobs last month, according to nonfarm employment figures released Friday morning by the Labor Department.
That was higher than economists’ average estimate of 150,000, according to Dow Jones data.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, compared to the 4.2% expected in August.
tangent
The government on Friday revised up July employment growth by 55,000 to 144,000 jobs and August employment growth by 17,000 to 159,000. Initial reports for both summer months showed 114,000 new jobs in July, lower than economists’ expectations of 185,000, and 142,000 new jobs in August, lower than expected 160,000. , revealed that labor market expansion was much weaker than expected.
Main background
The past two weaker-than-expected jobs numbers have raised alarms about the health of the U.S. labor market and the possibility of a recession, but most economists say worries are growing as production soars. Regardless, I think the US is far from a full-blown recession. Concerns about the labor market were further exacerbated by the government’s announcement in August that employment growth from March 2022 to March 2023 could be overestimated by more than 800,000 jobs. Employment should be supported by monetary policy, as the US Federal Reserve lowered interest rates for the first time in four-and-a-half years last month. This is because lower borrowing costs ease the pressure on profits and often allow companies to relax. Investors expect the Fed to make a series of rate cuts in the coming months, with futures trading pegging the federal funds rate to about 3% by the end of 2025, nearly half of the 5.25% to 5.5% range. This is considered the most likely scenario. The period was from July 2023 to last month.
