Courtesy of Mish.
Initial Reaction
Today’s employment report shows an increase of 156,000 jobs. For the year, job growth has averaged 178,000 per month, compared with an average of 229,000 per month in 2015.
Employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend up in September (+30,000) and has increased by 300,000 over the year.
Retail trade employment continued to trend up over the month (+22,000). Within the industry, job gains occurred in clothing and clothing accessories stores (+14,000) and in gasoline stations (+8,000). Over the year, employment in retail trade has risen by 317,000.
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised down from +275,000 to +252,000, and the change for August was revised up from +151,000 to +167,000. With these revisions, employment gains in July and August combined were 7,000 less than previously reported.
Let’s dive into the details in the BLS Employment Situation Summary, unofficially called the Jobs Report.
BLS Jobs Statistics at a Glance
- Nonfarm Payroll: +156,000 – Establishment Survey
- Employment: +354,000 – Household Survey
- Unemployment: +90,000 – Household Survey
- Involuntary Part-Time Work: -159,000 – Household Survey
- Voluntary Part-Time Work: +165,000 – Household Survey
- Baseline Unemployment Rate: +0.1 to 5.0% – Household Survey
- U-6 unemployment: +0.0 to 9.7% – Household Survey
- Civilian Non-institutional Population: +237,000
- Civilian Labor Force: +444,000 – Household Survey
- Not in Labor Force: -207,000 – Household Survey
- Participation Rate: +0.1 to 62.9 – Household Survey
Employment Report Statement
