The US economy added 254,000 jobs in September, blowing past expectations after the Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would slash interest rates, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The number exceeded expectations from economists. Earlier in the week, ADP projected that the economy added 143,000 jobs in September.
The numbers are a boost to President Joe Biden, who is not seeking re-election. Biden touted the positive numbers in a statement on Friday.
“Under my administration, unemployment has been the lowest in 50 years, a record 19 million new businesses have been created, and inflation and interest rates are falling,” he said.
In addition, Biden mentioned how on Thursday, the International Longshoremen’s Association had reached a deal to suspend their strike until January. The pause will allow dock workers to negotiate with the US Maritime Alliance, which represents shippers and ports, to negotiate a new six-year contract.
“And we’re seeing the power of collective bargaining to lift up workers’ wages—including the progress made by dockworkers on record wages with carriers, and port operators and the reopening of East Coast and Gulf ports,” he said.
The unemployment rate also decreased for men, while the numbers for women, teenagers, white people, Black people, Hispanics and Asian-Americans went virtually unchanged.
Healthcare saw the biggest addition of jobs, with 45,000 jobs, followed by government with 31,000 jobs, social assistance with 27,000 jobs and construction at 25,000 jobs.
Wages also grew by 0.4 percent during September and in the past 12 months, wages grew 4 percent.
In other good economic news, the jobs numbers for July were revised upwards, going from 89,000 to 144,000 while the jobs numbers from August went from 142,000 to 159,000.
Labor force participation — which is to say: people either working or looking for a job — remained the same as it has been at 62.7 percent. Similarly, 5.7 million people not in the labor force either want a job, which changed little in September.
The latest jobs numbers come after the Federal Reserve announced last month that it would cut interest rates by half a percentage point. The announcement signaled that the central bank, which had consistently raised interest rates in the past four years, saw that inflation was on the downswing.
“Our patient approach over the past year has paid dividends,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last month, but added that “the upside risks to inflation have diminished, and the downside risks to unemployment have increased.”
The jobs numbers come as the economy remains one of the major issues for voters in the 2020 presidential election. Polling has shown that more Americans trust former president Donald Trump to handle the economy than Vice President Kamala Harris, though the vice president seems to be closing the trust gap.
Oliver O’Connell contributed reporting