AP Explains: 5 key takeaways from the September jobs report

AP Explains: 5 key takeaways from the September jobs report

SeattlePI.com

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Just how resilient is the U.S. economy’s recovery from the coronavirus recession? The weakening of the nation's job-generating machine in September — for a third straight month — reinforced doubts.

In an ordinary month in an ordinary year, the adding of 661,000 workers would be extraordinarily good news. In topsy-turvy 2020? Not so much. Last month's gain looks worrisome because it marks a sharp falloff from 4.8 million added jobs in June, 1.8 million in July and 1.5 million in August. Economists had expected payrolls to rise by 850,000 in September, according to the data firm FactSet.

With nearly half the 22 million jobs that were lost to the viral pandemic still gone, a slowdown in hiring is hardly encouraging. Economists fear the job market will face even more pressure if Congress fails to agree soon on another economic rescue package and if coronavirus cases resurge in the cold weather months and keep consumers hunkered down at home.

“Job growth is moderating just as fiscal aid is expiring – a toxic cocktail,” economists Kathy Bostjancic and Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics wrote in a research note. “The slowing momentum in the labor market bodes poorly for the broader recovery and points to increasing scarring effects from the crisis.”

The job growth that is occurring is due mainly to employers recalling workers they had temporarily furloughed, not from new hiring. Worse, a rising number of the early layoffs have turned permanent. The number of Americans who considered their job loss permanent rose by 345,000 in September to 3.8 million — the highest such figure since 2013. More than 2.4 million people have been unemployed for at least six months. That's the most since 2015.

The Labor Department also reported Friday that the unemployment rate fell from 8.4% to 7.9%. But...

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