Economy remains sluggish in Sept.
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September could have been a crueler month.
While economists had expected the national unemployment rate to rise, it held steady at 9.1 percent for the third straight month, according to the monthly employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The number of jobs gained was just 103,000, a hefty portion of which came from 45,000 striking Verizon workers going back to their jobs.
Dean Baker, an economist with the Center for Economic Policy Research in Washington, D.C., said the monthly report on jobs was what he expected to see -- a sign that the U.S. economy is growing, but nowhere near quickly enough to pull the country out of its economic malaise.
"It's growing, but it's pretty bad," he said. "We're not making any progress."
For the economy to recover, Mr. Baker said employers need to add 300,000 to 400,000 jobs a month, instead of just 103,000.
Economists now say fears of a so-called double-dip recession are receding, replaced with what they predict will be an excruciatingly long recovery.
Nigel Gault, an economist with IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass., in his analysis said it's encouraging that, while the economy was rocked by the debt ceiling crisis and the debt problems in the eurozone, job creation is still in positive territory.
"But recent trends remain perilously close to stall speed for the economy," he said. "We're far from out of the woods."
Meanwhile, the stock market was all over the place as news came in first on unemployment, then as rating agency Fitch Investors downgraded Italian and Spanish debt.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 20.21 points to end the day down 0.18 percent at 11,103.12. The Standard & Poors 500 was down 0.82 percent to close at 1,155.46 for the day. The Nasdaq subtracted 1.10 percent to close at 2,479.35.
The monthly employment report offered glimmers of hope: Average weekly hours worked rose slightly in September, erasing the time lost by workers in August, and temporary staffing, often seen as a harbinger of economic growth, added 19,400 jobs.
Richard A. Wahlquist, the CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based American Staffing Association, said it is a good sign that temporary staffing continues to grow because businesses that are not ready to commit to permanent employees but have more work tend to reach first for temporary help.
First Published October 8, 2011 12:00 am
