US adds more jobs than expected in September

The first official data in weeks on the US job market is out, and it shows that hiring picked up after a lacklustre summer.

Employers added a better-than-expected 119,000 jobs in September, but the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.3% to 4.4%, the Labor Department said.

The US government shutdown, which ended last week after more than a month, had delayed publication of the figures for nearly seven weeks, leaving policymakers guessing about the state of the job market at a delicate moment.

Job growth has still barely budged since April, raising pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates to support the economy.

But policymakers at the Federal Reserve have been divided about the need for further interest rate cuts. In addition to the job market, they are also contending with price inflation that ticked up to 3% in September, above the 2% rate the bank wants to see.

Looming over the debate are questions like whether artificial intelligence (AI) will dampen demand for workers over the long term and how a crackdown on immigration is changing labour supply and demand.

Businesses are also wrestling with cutbacks to government spending, new tariff costs and uncertain consumer demand.

A private report this month by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found the number of job cuts in October hit the highest number for the month since 2003, as high-profile companies including Amazon, Target and UPS announced reductions.

The announcements have raised concerns about cracks in what has been seen as a “low-hire, low-fire” job market.

Information about the situation has been clouded by the government shutdown, which has limited incoming economic data in recent weeks. Thursday’s report is the last official word on the job market before the Fed’s next meeting in December.

The 119,000 jobs added were more than analysts had been expecting. But it also showed job growth in July and August was lower than previously estimated, with just 72,000 jobs added in July, but 4,000 jobs lost in August.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish its next report on the November job market in mid-December, leaving a gap in some data for October.