General

The U.S. added more jobs than expected in September, but manufacturing employment declined for the fifth consecutive month, according to long-awaited employment data out today from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What’s going on: Nonfarm payrolls increased by 119,000 in September, higher than forecast, while manufacturing jobs slipped by 6,000.

• In addition, job gains for both July and August were revised downward to a gain of 72,000 positions and a loss of 4,000 positions, respectively, with the 12-month average now standing at a gain of 109,000 jobs per month.
• The unemployment and labor force participation rates each inched up 0.1%, to 4.4% and 62.4%, respectively.

Focus on manufacturing: Manufacturing’s collective job losses of 14,000 in July and August were revised downward to a loss of 24,000 positions.

• Employment in the industry has declined 94,000 over the year, the most of any sector.
• Durable goods manufacturing employment dipped by 4,000 in September, while employment in nondurable goods decreased by 2,000.
• The industry’s biggest gains were in beverage, tobacco and leather and allied product manufacturing, which added 3,300 jobs in September.

Earnings and workweeks: Average hourly earnings for all private, nonfarm payroll employees increased 0.2%, reaching $36.67.

• In the past 12 months, employee earnings have gone up 3.8%.
• The average workweek for all employees stayed the same at 34.2 hours, but for manufacturing workers, it moved down 0.1 hour to 39.9 hours.

On the October jobs front: This is the only jobs snapshot we will see until December, after the government shutdown prevented the BLS from collecting key data, according to the agency. The BLS will instead fold October payroll figures into the full November jobs report—without an unemployment rate for October ( CNBC).