US economy loses more jobs than expected

Overall, the US lost 95,000 non-farm jobs in September. This was much wider than the 5,000-10,000 decline expected by economists. The US employers laid off more people than anticipated in September as the government sector stepped up job cuts even as the private companies hired less than expected staff. Overall, the US lost 95,000 non-farm jobs in September, the Labor Department said in Washington today. This was much wider than the 5,000-10,000 decline expected by economists and the 57,000 jobs lost in August. The unemployment rate remained steady at 9.6% as fewer new workers joined the labor force than in the previous month. Economists had expected a slight increase in the jobless rate.

Private-sector payrolls rose by 64,000 in September, weaker than the 85,000 increase expected by economists. Private payrolls increased by a revised 93,000 in August, up from the 67,000 initially estimated. increase. The payrolls count in July and August was revised lower by a cumulative 15,000. Payrolls fell by a revised 57,000 in July and by 66,000 in August. The government sector lost 159,000 jobs, including 77,000 temporary Census workers. The decrease in overall payrolls reflected a 77,000 decline of temporary workers hired by the government to conduct the decennial population count and a 49,800 drop in teaching jobs at the local government level. Only about 6,000 census workers remain on the payrolls.



Manufacturing payrolls decreased by 6,000 after declining 28,000 a month earlier. Economists had projected a 2,000 increase for September. Service sector jobs 73,000. Construction firms shed 21,000 jobs and retailers hired 5,700 workers. The US government also provided a preliminary estimate of how it expects to revise the closely followed labor data when it completes the process in February. They showed the economy may have lost an additional 366,000 jobs in the 12 months ended March 2010. The data currently show a 1.7 million drop in employment during that time.