September 2012 US Unemployment Rate

Posted on October 5, 2012 by townsend

• Unemployment rate falls to 7.8% in September, By Neil Irwin, October 5, 2012, Washington Post: “The job market is finally showing some juice. The unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September, the Labor Department said Friday, from 8.1 percent in July, its lowest since January 2009. It is a surprising show of improvement in a job market that had seemed listless in recent months. Unlike in August, the number improved for the right reason: not because people gave up looking for jobs, but because far more people reported having one. Employers reported creating 114,000 jobs in September, almost identical to analysts’ forecasts, but revisions to data from July and August brought boosted that measure of the job market, as well…”
• U.S. unemployment rate falls to 7.8%, hits 44-month low, by John Schmid, October 5, 2012, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The nation added jobs for the 24th consecutive month in September and pushed the unemployment rate below 8% for the first time in more than three and a half years. Last month’s job creation, however, was modest – an estimated 104,000 in the private sector and another 10,000 in the government sector, which includes all state, local and federal agencies. Economists say the pace of hiring throughout most of the recovery has been neutral, hardly enough to compensate for population growth and new entrants into a labor market of 140 million. What took nearly all economists by surprise was the sharp drop in the unemployment rate to 7.8% from 8.1% in August. The last time it was below 8.0% was January 2009 – the month that President Barack Obama took office. In the months after Obama’s inauguration, the rate rose sharply and peaked at 10% in October 2009. It had topped 8% for 43 straight months…”
• Jobless rate falls to 7.8%, lowest level of Obama’s term, By Shaila Dewan, October 5, 2012, New York Times: “The nation’s unemployment rate dropped sharply to 7.8 percent in September, its lowest level since the month President Obama took office, the Labor Department said Friday. While employers added only a modest 114,000 jobs last month, the jobless rate declined from 8.1 percent in August. The unemployment rate fell because more people were working, not because discouraged job seekers stopped looking, the numbers showed…”