[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by the Daily Signal.]
By Timothy Doescher
Daily Signal
The Bureau of Labor Statistics …
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by the Daily Signal.] By Timothy Doescher Daily Signal The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that the unemployment rate fell to 7.9% as the economy gained 661,000 jobs in September, continuing to show signs of recovery and make the case that policymakers must continue to allow more parts of society to safely reopen. Although the unemployment rate beat experts’ predictions of 8.2%, the number of new jobs fell below predictions, largely due to closures of public schools and a decline in temporary workers for the 2020 census. However, positive revisions to the July and August jobs reports added 145,000 more jobs than previously reported. The new jobs report shows that temporary layoffs decreased by 1.5 million, down from the high of 18.1 million in April but still 3.8 million higher than in February. In addition, the number of Americans who permanently lost their job increased by 345,000 to 3.8 million; this number has risen by 2.5 million since February. Unemployment rates declined in September for adult men (7.4%), adult women (7.7%), whites (7.0%), and Asians (8.9%), while the jobless rates for teenagers (15.9%), African Americans (12.1%), and Hispanics (10.3%) showed little change over the month. The labor force participation rate, at 61.
