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A worker performs a quality check on sneakers at the New Balance manufacturing facility in Lawrence, Massachusetts, July 31, 2018.
These are the five most important numbers from Friday morning’s nonfarm payrolls report for September:
134,000: That was the total amount added to payrolls, according to the Labor Department. The number was well below Refinitiv estimates of 185,000 and the slowest pace since the 14,000 added in September 2017.
3.7 percent: September’s unemployment rate was down two-tenths of a point from August and was at the lowest level since December 1969, when the jobless level hit 3.5 percent.
87,000: July and August numbers were revised substantially higher, with the 69,000 added in August the biggest upward adjustment of the year and more proof that the labor market remains strong despite Friday’s miss.
263,000: The level of people working part time for economic reasons, a group sometimes referred to as involuntary part-timers or the underemployed, surged during the month, accounting for a tick higher in the so-called real unemployment rate to 7.5 percent.
2.8 percent: Those watching the jobs report are keeping a keen eye on the increase in average hourly earnings, which was in line with economists’ expectations but not showing signs of major wage pressures — yet.
Quotable: “With little doubt that the labor market is strong, the question for market participants has been whether that strength will translate into higher wages and thus into higher inflation. Today’s data don’t settle the question, but next month’s might.” — Eric Winograd, senior economist at AB.
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