US Adds 661K Jobs In September, Unemployment Falls To 7.9%

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released employment data for the month of September, and the numbers were disappointing.

Here’s a rundown of everything you need to know.

What You Need To Know About The Jobs Report: The nonfarm payroll number came in at +661,000, well worse than consensus economist expectations of +800,000.

The unemployment rate decreased 0.5% to 7.9%. Average hourly earnings were up less than 0.1% in the month to $29.47.

September’s jobs report is particularly important because it's the last monthly jobs report prior to the Nov. 3 presidential election.

See Also: US GDP Drops 31.4% In Q2, But Economists Expect Record Recovery

The leisure and hospitality industry led the gains in September by adding 318,000 jobs, more than any other industry. The retail industry was also strong, adding 142,000 jobs.

In addition to the disappointing September numbers, the Labor Department also revised its jobs growth estimates for the last two months as well. The Labor Department increased its July estimate by 27,000 jobs to +1.734 million and raised its August estimate by 118,000 jobs to +1.371 million.

Not good folks. pic.twitter.com/vARGbfGKX6

— George "Grants To State & Local Gov NOW" Pearkes (@pearkes) October 2, 2020

Market Reaction To The Jobs Report: After COVID-19 ended a historic streak of 113 consecutive months of U.S. jobs growth earlier this year, the U.S. economy has now recovered about 12 million of the roughly 22 million jobs lost to the pandemic this year.

Investors initially reacted negatively to the jobs numbers, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY trading down by 1.8% in pre-market trading. Markets are also spooked by news of President Trump testing positive for coronavirus.