103G new jobs, no cut in unemployment rate
Prospective employees and vendors attend a job fair in San Antonio. Employers added 103,000 jobs in September, a modest burst of hiring after a sluggish summer. (Oct. 4, 2011) Credit: AP
The United States added an unexpected 103,000 jobs in September, besting many economists' expectations, according to federal data released Friday.
But the new jobs failed to put a dent in the unemployment rate, which remained stuck at 9.1 percent in September, unchanged since July.
That rate, which measures jobless people who are looking for work, hasn't budged much from that level in the past six months. And a broader measure of employment woes tracked by the government -- which adds in those who work part time because of no other option and "discouraged workers" who have given up looking for work -- rose slightly to 16.5 percent in September.
The private sector added 137,000 jobs, getting a boost from 45,000 Verizon workers who returned to work after a two-week strike in August. But the government sector, struggling with weak tax revenue and swollen deficits, shrank by 34,000 jobs, most of them local education employees.
A Bloomberg News survey of economists had predicted a 60,000 job increase overall.
The economy needs to generate 200,000 jobs a month for about a year to bring the unemployment rate down just 1 percentage point, said Martin Melkonian, economics professor at Hofstra University. And even that amount of labor growth, he said, is "not such a crowning achievement."
The unemployment rate is unlikely to decline significantly any time soon, according to The Conference Board, a Manhattan-based business research group. It predicts a 50/50 chance of recession in the next three months and jobless rates of 9 percent or more through 2012, said Gad Levanon, director of macroeconomic research.
Such economic uncertainty has hurt local hiring.
Roger Kahn, president of Champion Office Suites, a Garden City firm that serves as a virtual office for several hundred businesses, gauges how well his clients are doing by the volume of phone calls his staff of five answers on their behalf. And that gauge in turn affects his hiring. Call volume has been declining since the second week of September, which indicates to him a contracting economy.
"I don't see the need to hire an additional telephone receptionist with the call volume going down," he said.
Lamb & Barnosky, a Melville law firm, has added two lawyers in the past month, said managing partner Eugene Barnosky, but for a reason that augurs poorly for jobs.
The firm's education and municipal labor practice is growing because of rising layoffs by governments -- who need counsel during labor contractions.
In the U.S. employment report, the professional and business-services sector, which includes temporary help, expanded the most, adding 48,000 jobs. Manufacturing had the biggest private-sector losses -- 13,000 jobs, the second consecutive month of losses.
Those losses are worrisome because the sector is often among the first to decline ahead of a recession, Levanon of The Conference Board said.
"I wouldn't say it's a strong signal," he said. "But it is a little worrisome."
Jobs gained or lost
Employment in the United States grew more strongly than expected in September, though not enough to reduce the unemployment rate below 9.1 percent. A look at the number of jobs added or lost in September in select industries (month-to-month change)
- Professional and business services: 48,000
- Education and health services: 40,800
- Information: 34,000
- Construction: 26,000
- Retail trade: 13,600
- Government: -34,000
- Manufacturing: -13,000
- Financial activities: -8,000
- Total nonfarm employment: 103,000
