US economy adds 136,000 jobs in September as unemployment rate falls to 50-year low
The US economy added more than 130,000 jobs in September, with unemployment falling to its lowest rate in half a century.
After a week of warning signs about a global financial slowdown, the US reported today that roughly 136,000 jobs were made last month.
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The unemployment rate, which has remained below four per cent for the last seven months, has tumbled to its lowest level since december 1969.
However, average hourly earnings climbed by 2.9 per cent from a year earlier, missing the 3.2 per cent consensus.
The rise in jobs comes in spite of a swathe of recent data suggesting a slowdown in the US economy, with manufacturing data earlier this week showing a fall in output for the second month in a row.
Breaking News: Unemployment Rate, at 3.5%, drops to a 50 YEAR LOW. Wow America, lets impeach your President (even though he did nothing wrong!).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2019
Global stocks have been battered this week in the wake of weak economic data, trade wars and geopolitical uncertainty in major economies.
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President Donald Trump, who is facing intense scrutiny at home after calling on China to investigate Joe Biden, hailed a “nice victory” yesterday after getting the green light to place tariffs on European Union goods in a dispute over EU aircraft subsidies.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “As for the Fed, this report doesn’t really shift the needle too much – not so hot to force a rethink on cuts, but not a disaster that could ramp expectations for more aggressive easing.”
He added: “From this week’s data you simply have to come to the conclusion that US growth has markedly slowed but far from slumping into a recession yet. We’ll be waiting to see what chair Jay Powell has to say later this evening.”