This morning’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report for the month of September showed a gain of 148,000 jobs and a slightly lowered unemployment rate of 7.2%. Revisions for July and August added 9,000 additional jobs to the economy. Over the last 12 months, employment growth has averaged 185,000 jobs per month.
The September report was highly anticipated as it was not released on schedule due to the federal government shutdown in early October. With many wondering if there would be a notable shift in the report, economists were curious to see what insights could be found in the in the number. As the data showed, the report followed a similar path to those seen in recent months; consistent –yet lower than hoped for– growth.
A number of sectors saw increases including construction (+20,000), professional and business services (+32,000), healthcare (+6,800), retail (+20,800), legal (+1,100) and IT (+6,000). Architectural and engineering services and accounting also saw minor gains. The temporary sector had an addition of 20,200 new positions.
The next employment report will be slightly delayed with a release date of November 8th as a result of the shutdown.
At Adecco, a number of our clients have kicked off seasonal hiring with thousands of positions available for job seekers. Additionally many clients are opting to permanently hire temporary employers—a trend that began in late 2012, and has continued to grow throughout this year. We anticipate that this hiring pattern will continue into 2014.
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