US Economy Reports Job Losses, Unemployment Remains Steady At 9.6%

The Labor Department released yet another negative figure Friday morning in its non-farm payrolls report for September, reporting a job loss of 95,000. The government sector accounted for the majority of the job losses, while private sector demonstrated a moderate rise. The rate of unemployment remained constant at 9.6%.

The 159,000 government jobs lost during the month were divided evenly between cuts at local and state levels and the end of short-term census jobs. The payroll for private sector added 64,000 new jobs, with the healthcare sector showing the highest increase (24,000) and other major gains observed in services industry. Construction sector lost 21,000, counterbalancing a rise in August, and has remained flat most of the time since February.

Non-farm payroll number for July was adjusted to a job loss of 66,000 from an earlier projection of 54,000, whereas the headline figure was adjusted from a job loss of 54,000 to 57,000.

Average hourly wages went up slightly in September to $22.67, whereas the average working hours per week remain unchanged at 34.2. The U 6, a measure of unemployment that takes into account discouraged job seekers who have given up looking for work, went up from 16.7% to 17.2% in September, contradicting the headline rate of unemployment of 9.6%, which remained unchanged.

Wall Street appeared optimistic before the report was released; however, index futures shed the gains as the numbers emerged.