Mary Margaret Olohan on October 4, 2019
The U.S. economy added 136,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate declined to 3.5%, according to Department of Labor data released Friday.
136,000 jobs were added in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, about 6,000 more jobs than were added in August.
The unemployment rate declined to the lowest unemployment rate seen since December 1969, dropping from August’s unemployment rate of 3.7% to 3.5% in September. Unemployment for whites dropped to 3.2%, while the jobless rates for adult men, adult women, teenagers, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics remained relatively the same since August.
Economists predicted the unemployment rate would remain the same at 3.7%, according to the New York Times, and that employers would add 147,000 jobs.
“Breaking News: Unemployment Rate, at 3.5%, drops to a 50 YEAR LOW,” tweeted President Donald Trump Friday morning. “Wow America, lets impeach your President (even though he did nothing wrong!).”
Job growth has come back strong after February, when just 33,000 jobs were added.
The unemployment rate has held steady between 4% and 3.7% for more than a year before the April jobs report showed it drop to 3.6%. Prior to April’s report, the consistent unemployment rate suggested that workers are jumping back into the workforce to fill open jobs, rather than the workers who are currently collecting unemployment welfare, according to WSJ.
Though the jobs report revealed jobs lower than anticipated, today’s labor market has almost 1.5 million more unfilled jobs than employed people, CEO of CareerBuilder Irina Novoselsky told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Novoselsky’s CareerBuilder helps candidates find the best paying jobs as well as skills development and career advancement opportunities.
“There is a lot of opportunity for job seekers to find the roles that they want,” Novoselsky added. “The issue is that job seekers don’t always have the tools they need to be successful.”
