U.S. Loses 33,000 Jobs In September, First Job Losses In 83 Months Of Growth

The Labor Department released its official hiring and unemployment figures for September this morning.

This is the first report of job losses after 83 months of job growth.

From the New York Times:

■ The economy lost 33,000 jobs last month, the first monthly decline in employment in seven years. Wall Street economists had expected very modest employment gains of 80,000, according to Bloomberg.

■ The unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent. August’s jobless rate was 4.4 percent.

■ The average hourly wage grew by 0.45 percent, for a year-over-year gain of 2.9 percent.

■ Revised figures for July and August showed that a total of 38,000 fewer jobs were created in those two months than previously reported.

Experts blame the job losses on Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, but President Obama was able to maintain job growth through Hurricanes Matthew and Sandy.

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