The economy created only 194,000 new jobs in September. For context, economists had expected 500,000 new jobs. This suggests a lack of labor could handicap an otherwise robust economic recovery.
The numbers: The economy created a stingy 194,000 new jobs in September to mark the second disappointing monthly increase in a row, suggesting a lack of labor could frustrate a robust U.S. economic recovery in the months ahead.
Yet the official rate underestimates the true unemployment by a few percentage points, economists estimate. One of the biggest problems the economy faces right now is enticing enough people to return to work. Many businesses lack sufficient staff to produce enough goods and services to keep up with demand.
Record U.S. job openings show there’s plenty of demand for labor. And with delta starting to fade, even more companies might be willing to add staff. Yet that’s just one-fifth of the average increase in industry employment during the spring, suggesting the late-summer surge in coronavirus delta cases held back hiring in September.
Average pay rose 19 cents to $30.85 an hour, pushing the increase over the past year up to 4.6% from 4%. Before the pandemic wages were increasing at a more leisurely 3% a year.Prices have jumped 5.3% over the past year using the better known consumer price index. And the are up 4.3% in the last 12 months using the Fed’s preferred personal consumption expenditure inflation gauge.The average number of hours Americans work rose two tenths of a percentage point to 34.8 hours a week.
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