Jobs: Hiring Slows, Wages Fall, Unemployment Dips

USA Today reports:



Hiring slowed in September as employers added 136,000 jobs, fueling recession concerns and possibly raising the odds of another Federal Reserve rate cut this month. The unemployment rate fell from 3.7% to 3.5%, a new 50-year low, the Labor Department said Friday.

Economists expected 145,000 job gains, according to a Bloomberg survey. Partly offsetting the weak showing: Job gains for July and August were revised up by a total 45,000. July’s additions were upgraded from 159,000 to 166,000 and August’s from 130,000 168,000. Average wages, however, fell.

The jobs numbers were released amid mounting concerns that the economy may be heading toward a recession. A manufacturing index this week showed a contraction in activity for a second straight month in September and at the briskest pace in 10 years. Producers cited the toll taken by President Trump’s trade war with China and a sluggish global economy.