How to make sense of the country’s stunningly strong job market

The U.S. job market has exceeded expectations with the addition of 336,000 jobs in September, approximately double the forecasted amount.

Unexpected surge: U.S. employers added significantly more jobs than anticipated.
* Hiring increased rather than slowing down as expected, with strong gains in September and revised numbers showing stronger hiring in July and August than previously reported.
* Jobs gains were broad-based, with almost every industry adding workers.

The Fed’s response: The strong job market could influence the Federal Reserve’s plan to control inflation.
* Despite concerns that a hot labor market could increase wages and potentially fuel further inflation, wage growth remained modest with a 4.2% annual increase in September and only a 0.2% rise from August to September.
* Some predict another interest rate hike from the Fed this year, but modest wage growth may alleviate these concerns.

Unemployment rate maintains: The unemployment rate remained steady at 3.8% in September.
* An increase in the unemployment rate in August was due to a surge of new people joining the workforce, indicating optimism about job prospects.
* The unemployment rate for African Americans increased from 5.3% to 5.7% in September.

Unaccounted strikes: The September jobs report does not reflect strikes that began later in the month.
* The United Auto Workers strike and the Hollywood writers strike are not included, but their impact might be reflected in the October jobs report.

View original article on NPR

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