September 2016 employment: US adds 156,000 jobs

The Employment Situation‘ news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy added 156,000 jobs in September 2016. The unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons sat at 5.0 percent and 7.9 million respectively. The labor force participation rate in September rose to 62.9 percent and, over the last 12 months, more than three million more people have entered the workforce. In fact, job growth has averaged 178,000 per month so far this year, compared with an average of 229,000 jobs per month in 2015. All told, the private sector has added 15.3 million jobs since February 2010; this month’s report continued the longest streak of overall job growth on record. According to Secretary of Labor Tom Perez: “Other measures affirm the strength of the economy. Consumer confidence is now at the highest level we’ve seen during the recovery. Initial unemployment insurance claims remained near historic lows in September. For 83 consecutive weeks, these initial claims have remained under 300,000 – a streak we’ve not seen since 1970.” The change in employment for July 2016 was revised from 275,000 jobs added to 252,000 jobs added while August 2016 was revised from 151,000 jobs added to 167,000 jobs added. With these revisions, employment gains in June and July were 7,000 less than previously reported.]]>