Payrolls Increase by 57,000 in September

First Rise Since January; Umemployment Rate Remains at 6.1%
Businesses added 57,000 jobs in September, the first increase in eight months, but the unemployment rate remained steady at 6.1%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The increase in payrolls followed a 41,000 decline in August that was significantly smaller than reported last month. The jobless rate is down from a nine-year high of 6.4% percent in June.

Economists had expected payrolls would fall by 25,000 last month following a previously reported decrease of 93,000 in August, Bloomberg reported.

Although jobs were created in September, manufacturers slashed another 29,000 positions, the 38th straight decline. However, Labor said that was the smallest drop since July 2002 and the manufacturing workweek expanded to 40.4 hours from 40.2 in August and overtime rose to 4.2 hours from 4 hours.



Manufacturing is one of trucking’s largest and most important customers.

Employment in service-producing industries rose 74,000 last month after falling 12,000 the previous month. The increase, was led by a 33,200 rise in temporary-help jobs.

One reason the unemployment rate held steady is that a smaller percentage of the population was in the labor force. The labor force participation rate fell to 66.1%, the lowest since December 1991.

Labor also estimated Friday that the economy lost 145,000 more jobs than thought in the 12 months ended in March 2003. Current figures show the economy had lost 397,000 jobs during that time.

10690