FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

Economy Adds 136,000 Jobs, Streak at 108 Months of Growth, Unemployment Down to 3.5%

| | 14 Comments

The economy's streak is now at 108 straight months of job-creation gains. Click on the graph for larger view. (© FlaglerLive)
The economy’s streak is now at 108 straight months of job-creation gains. Click on the graph for larger view.
(© FlaglerLive)

The national economy added 136,000 jobs in September, and figures for July and August were revised upward by 45,000 jobs, sending the unemployment rate to 3.5 percent, matching a level last seen in December 1969. An increase in government jobs continues to help swell employment figures, resulting in the 108th consecutive month of job growth.


Florida’s unemployment rate is at 3.3 percent, and Flagler County’s at 4.1 percent.

But the economy is not quite functioning at the same level it had been in recent years: in the first nine months of 2019, it has averaged a net gain of 161,000 jobs a month, compared to an average of 223,000 jobs a month in 2018, when the economy was benefiting from the 2017 tax cuts. And after several months of gains that had finally surpassed inflation for wage-earners, average wages lost a cent in September after rising 11 cents in August. Average hourly earnings fell to $28.09 for all private-sector employees.

But there are still more job postings than there are job seekers: the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 7.2 million job postings. There were 5.8 million unemployed Americans. And the alternative unemployment rate, which accounts for those who have dropped out of the labor force and those who are working part time because they could not find full-time work, or because their hours were cut back against their will, fell to 6.9 percent, from 7.2 percent in August. There were 4.4 million people working part-time for economic, rather than voluntary, reasons.

The global economy has been slowing and the Trump administration’s trade war with China has been taking a toll, with world trade expected to grow by an anemic 1.2 percent this year, the weakest year since 2009. Six months ago, the World Trade Organization had predicted growth of 2.6 percent.

There are some signs of weakness in the retail sector, usually a bellwether of economic strength as it reflects consumers’ purchasing trends, though retail has also been battered by growth in online sales. Retail lost 11,000 jobs in September, continuing a losing streak that began in January 2017. Since then, retail has shed 197,000 jobs.

Government jobs grew by 22,000, though this time hiring for the coming Census had little to do with it. Federal payrolls increased by just 1,000. The rest were in state and local government payrolls. Health care added 39,000 jobs, professional and business services added 34,000, and transportation and warehousing added 16,000. The full jobs report is below.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Fredrick says

    Before it is called the Obama economy let’s not forget that those who will say that also said the economy would tank as soon as Trump took office. Thank you Mr. Orange man.

    Reply

    • Pogo says

      @Furthermore

      President Obama and the Democratic party saved the American auto industry and it (the auto industry) repaid the help, with interest, and ahead of schedule.

      Resident rump demonstrates he totally misunderstands what the hell a tariff is – and has devastated American agricultural producers. Small family farmers have been particularly hard hit by rump’s belligerent stupidity. Only traditional American common decency and generosity have prevented rump’s trade war from being a total catastrophe. As the losses have multiplied continuously, the transfusion of aid has increased in a corresponding manner:

      farm bailout doubles auto industry bailout
      https://www.google.com/search?-b-1-d&q=farm+bailout+doubles+auto+industry+bailout

      Anyone care to speculate when the rest of us may expect any repayment of the aid to the farmers?

      trade war translates to costs for all (that means YOU)
      https://www.google.com/search?-b-1-d&q=trade+war+translates+to+costs+for+all

      How’s that rump/Republican party “tax cut” look now?

      Reply

      • WOKE says

        Thank you Cynthia Barrett. I couldn’t say it better!!

        Thank you, President Obama. I sure wish you were still in office. We never had a breath of scandal for the whole 8 years. Oh yes…of course, there was that business of you wearing a tan suit. Good grief! And…how could I forget you putting mustard on your sandwich! And of course, that hussy wife of yours, baring her arms like that. Ohhhhh for those days once again. NO one from your cabinet or inner circle was investigated, indicted or went to jail. Wow…imagine that! There was no constant flood of resignations and firings. No daily scandal. Never once did I have a sick stomach getting up in the morning, afraid to turn on the TV to see if the orange little fingers had set off the nuke codes. I cannot remember you EVER once calling anyone a name…much less on a continual daily basis. There is a large cemetery of bodies underneath trump’s bus. We never once as a country were embarrassed by what you said or did. Our allies around the world love us…now they cannot get far enough away from us. (Something like getting far away from something that stinks badly.) We certainly had no discussion about whether or not you were really elected either. No indeed. You didn’t need to beg another country (an enemy one at that) to rig the election in your favor! No siree!! In fact, statistics and photos prove YOU had the biggest inauguration ever!

        Well I do go on…(and I could easily go on for much much more) but 2/3 of the country misses you President Obama, and we wish for those days back. Bless you and your beautiful family.

        Reply

        • Jim says

          The real important thing here is POLICY. If we continued the Obama way, within the next 10-12 years we would have been a 2nd tier country. We would be a Canada or a France or a Germany. Under the policies of President Trump we remain the gold standard of the world that every country in the world envy

          Reply

  4. Outsider says

    Obama was not investigated by anyone, ever. There were certainly scandals. Holder committed perjury as to his knowledge of the Fast and Furious gun running scheme which killed hundreds of Mexicans and a U.S. border patrol agent. Hillary’s ignorance as to what was happening in Libya led to the deaths of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. Al Qaeda ended up with our embassy in Tripoli as Obama bailed out. Oh, that’s right: he killed Qaddafi and then left, handing over the country to militants. They still own it to this day. Oh, and Valerie Jarrett’s daughter married a Canadian member of Parliament, and Obama was at the wedding. Obama directed the $600,000,000 Obamacare website contract to that same member of Parliament. That same member of Parliament botched another government contract where he was supposed to form a gun registry which never materialized and all the money disappeared due to “mismanagement.” An American tech president said he would have been embarrassed to charge a million dollars to do the job. Must have been a nice wedding gift in that $600 million somewhere. Joe Biden was selling his name to foreign countries, enriching his family in the process. He took his son Hunter to China, on Air Force One, and he came home with a 1.5 billion dollar deal from the Chinese. Hunter, with no experience in the energy sector got a job on the board of directors of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. When a Ukrainian prosecutor began investigating Burisma for alleged corruption, Joe Biden called the Ukrainian president and demanded the prosecutor be fired, or Biden would cancel billions of dollars in aid. Within hours, the prosecutor was fired, aid was restored, and Hunter got to keep his $83,000 a month position on the board. Joe Biden then brags about it on video, saying he had Obama’s support in the actions. Oh, for the scandal-free days of the Obama administration.

    Reply

  5. steve says

    As Trumponomics fails before our eyes, and the Economists around the World( Oxford, Wharton etc) can at least say “I TOLD YOU SO” The Majority of Us will pay the price while the perps head on down the line. May all Americans say a Prayer for Lady Liberty. She needs us now more than ever. I am neither for or against any Party as long as We the People benefit. I gather my own facts and draw my own conclusions not based on Party rhetoric. In this particular situation I dare say there will be no winners. I see followers all around but no Leaders. This period in History will be looked back as The reverse E Pluribus Unum.

    Reply

  6. palmcoaster says

    Thank you so much for telling it like it is in our real world…to Cynthia, Pogo and Woke.
    Most the jobs created in the last 2.5 years are those nickel and dime “no benefits” one’s? We sure miss Obama his professionalism and presidential style in the WH.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.