A Deceleration in Jobs Increases
The total number of U.S. jobs in September, according to the latest Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), rose by +661,000. An increase of nearly two-thirds of a million, on first blush, sounds wonderful. But it needs to be placed in perspective.
The +661,000 gain continues the deceleration in jobs generation that has been underway since June. The net jobs increases over the latest four months have been +4.8 million, +1.8 million, +1.5 million, and most recently, +661,000.
The month-to-month percentage change in U.S. total employment in September was +0.5% after being +3.6% in June, +1.3% in July and +1.1% in August.
September’s seasonally adjusted (SA) unemployment rate improved to 7.9% from 8.4% in August. In September 2019, the SA jobless figure was only 3.5%.
