September Payrolls Drop; Unemployment Rate Climbs to 5.1%

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.S. payrolls fell by 35,000 jobs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the unemployment rate rose to 5.1% in September from 4.9% in August, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The drop in jobs was not as steep as the 150,000 predicted by economists, Bloomberg reported, and followed a gain of 211,000 jobs in August that was greater than the 169,000 originally reported by the government.

Because employment levels drive so much economic activity, an increase in employment can help consumer confidence and spending patterns, which affect trucking demand.

Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast Aug. 29, uprooting hundreds of thousands of workers. It was followed four weeks late by Hurricane Rita, which hit the Texas-Louisiana border on Sept. 24.

Rita’s landfall was too late in the month to affect the September figures, Bloomberg said.

Manufacturing employment fell by 27,000 jobs and service-industry employment, which includes retailers, banks and government agencies, fell by 36,000, Labor said.

Among service industry numbers, construction jobs rose by 23,000 while retail jobs fell by 88,000.

The manufacturing workweek was unchanged at 40.5 hours, while overtime fell slightly to 4.4 hours, from 4.5 hours in August.