September 2014: Unemployment rate drops to 5.9 percent

the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate dropped by .2 percentage points in September, bringing the unemployment rate down to 5.9 percent. So far in 2014, the percent of unemployed people has dropped by 1.3 points overall. The number of available non-farming jobs increased by nearly 250,000 jobs last month, thanks to growth in the business services and health care markets. Thanks to that job growth, there are 329,000 less unemployed people this month than there were in August 2014. More than 80,000 new professional and business service jobs were created in September, a dramatic swing upwards from the previous monthly average of 56,000 jobs. The bulk of the new positions were in employment services, though a good chunk of them were in technical consulting and management. Legal services jobs declined by 5,000 in September. The retail industry also saw a leap in jobs, with 35,000 new positions added. Twenty thousand of those jobs were for food and beverage retailers, including the reinstatement of the grocery store workers in the northeast from last month’s chain disruptions. The healthcare industry also saw above-average increases, with 23,000 new positions created. Information, mining, construction and financial industries also saw mid-size gains, while the manufacturing, transportation, government and trade sectors saw little change.]]>