Employment down 35,000 in September

Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (-35,000) in September, and the unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The measures of employment and unemployment reflect both the impact of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast in late August, and ongoing labor market trends. Over the 12 months ending in August, payroll employment grew by an average of 194,000 a month and the unemployment rate trended downward.

In September, manufacturing employment was down by 27,000 and has declined by 118,000 over the year. The September job decline, which marked four consecutive months of manufacturing job loss, was concentrated in transportation equipment, which reflected a strike of 18,000 workers in the aerospace industry. Employment declines in electrical equipment and appliances (-4,000) and paper and paper products (-3,000) were offset by a gain in machinery manufacturing (7,000).