Twenty five thousand jobs were lost in transportation and warehousing in the month, while federal government employment reduced by 3,000 and is down by 97,000 since reaching a peak in January.
Employment showed little or no change over the month in other major industries, including manufacturing and retail trade, a BLS release said.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private non-farm payrolls rose by 9 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to $36.67 in September. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.8 per cent.
In September, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.2 hours. In manufacturing, the average workweek changed little at 39.9 hours, and overtime was unchanged at 2.9 hours.
According to the BLS household survey, both the unemployment rate, at 4.4 per cent, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.6 million, changed little in September. These measures are higher than a year earlier, when the jobless rate was 4.1 per cent, and the number of unemployed people was 6.9 million.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.8 million in September. The long-term unemployed accounted for 23.6 per cent of all unemployed people.
The labour force participation rate, at 62.4 per cent, changed little over the month and over the year. The employment-population ratio, at 59.7 per cent, also changed little in September, but was down by 0.4 percentage point over the year.
ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)
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