U.S. unemployment edges down to 3.5 pct in September amid tight labor market

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. employers added 263,000 jobs in September amid a still tight labor market, with the unemployment rate edging down to 3.5 percent, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

The unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage point to 3.5 percent in September, returning to its July level. The number of unemployed persons slightly declined to 5.8 million in September.

Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers decreased by 173,000 to 1.2 million in September. The number of long-term unemployed (those remain jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 1.1 million in the month.

The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 5.8 million in September and remains above its February 2020 level of 5 million. These individuals were not counted as unemployed, the report noted.

The monthly employment report showed that the labor force participation rate was little changed at 62.3 percent in September, still 1.1 percentage point below its pre-pandemic level.

Meanwhile, the number of job openings in the United States fell by 6.2 percent to 10.1 million by the end of August, indicating a cooling labor market amid rising interest rates and slower economic growth, the U.S. Labor Department reported earlier this week.

With 5.8 million unemployed, there were 1.7 job openings for every unemployed person.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that high-frequency data initial jobless claims in the United States last week rose by 29,000 to 219,000, the latest sign of slowing job growth.