September jobs report: NCCI cautions against overreaction

On Oct. 4, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 254,000 new jobs added to the U.S. economy in September, exceeding economists’ expectations of 150,000. The unemployment rate and number of unemployed people changed little during the month at 4.1% and 6.8 million, respectively.

Employment in food services and drinking places rose by 69,000 in September, well above the average monthly gain of 14,000 from the previous 12 months, according to the Labor Department, while construction employment continued its upward trend with more than 25,000 new jobs. The construction industry has averaged more than 19,000 new positions each month for the last year.

The NCCI said the labor market may be reaccelerating after the summer slowdown, should September’s reversal of job openings and unemployment turn into a sustained trend.

“We will be watching future data closely to assess how trends are developing,” the NCCI said.

Also in September, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 13 cents to $35.36, with the average workweek slipping by 0.1 hour to 34.2 hours, the Labor Department reported.

Meanwhile, the average workweek in manufacturing was unchanged at 40 hours, but overtime dropped by one-tenth of an hour to 2.9 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.7 hours.

Other key data points from the Bureau of Labor Statistics include:

• The number of people jobless less than five weeks decreased by 322,000 to 2.1 million in September.
• The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed over the month at 1.6 million.
• The number of people employed part-time for economic reasons changed little at 4.6 million in September.
• The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job, at 5.7 million, changed little in September.

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