The nation’s employers added 336,000 jobs in September, an unexpectedly robust gain that suggests that many companies remain confident enough to keep hiring despite high interest rates and a hazy outlook for the economy.
The nation’s employers added 336,000 jobs in September, an unexpectedly robust gain that suggests that many companies remain confident enough to keep hiring despite high interest rates and a hazy outlook for the economy.
Hiring last month jumped from a 227,000 increase in August, which was revised sharply higher. July’s gain was also healthier than had been initially estimated. The economy has now added an average of 266,000 jobs a month in the past three months. The sustained strength of the labor market makes it likelier that the Federal Reserve will raise its key rate again before year’s end as it continues its drive to tame inflation.
Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8%, not far above a half-century low.
The job market has defied an array of threats this year, notably high inflation and the rapid series of Fed interest rate hikes that were intended to conquer it. Though the Fed’s hikes have made loans much costlier, steady job growth has helped fuel consumer spending and kept the economy growing, defying long-standing predictions of a forthcoming recession.
Across the economy last month, most large industries added jobs, from health care, which gained 66,000, to manufacturing, which added 17,000, to retailers, which added nearly 20,000.
