The government also revised its estimates upward for the previous two months, suggesting that job growth in July and August had been better than originally reported. Although the numbers staved off the bleakest forecasts for now, the Labor Department’s monthly snapshot highlighted the challenges for President Obama as he continues to press a balky Congress to pass his jobs bill.
The unemployment rate for September was unchanged from August at 9.1 percent. And while the number of new jobs exceeded consensus forecasts, it was barely enough to accommodate population growth, much less help those who have been out of work for an extended period.
More than two years after the recovery officially began, there are still 14 million people searching for work, a little less than half of them for six months or longer.
September’s employment numbers were “no disaster,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist at MFR. But, he added, “it’s certainly not off to the races, and in absolute terms it is still very, very weak.”
While the private sector added 137,000 jobs in September, that included about 45,000 Verizon workers who had been on strike during August and returned to work by September. The public sector was the weakest link, with the largest losses in public education.
With the economy trying to build off a precarious foundation, some recent indicators actually paint a slightly better picture. Auto sales rose close to 10 percent in September to their highest level in five months, and sales at chain stores also increased last month, led by luxury purchases.
Consumer confidence has lately come off of its lows. And the government reported net gains of 127,000 and 57,000 jobs in July and August, respectively, an increase from the originally released numbers.
But the housing market is still teetering and economists have grown increasingly concerned about a ballooning European debt crisis that could send ripples across the Atlantic.
The focus of political attention remains job growth. In a news conference on Thursday, the president urged Congress to act to prevent weaker growth and more job losses. “There are too many people hurting in this country for us to do nothing,” Mr. Obama said. “And the economy is just too fragile for us to let politics get in the way of action.”
Some economists worried that the September jobs report was not galvanizing enough for the president’s agenda. “Policy is running out of ammunition and the willingness here, particularly with today’s number, may be even less to do anything dramatic,” said Torsten Slok, chief international economist at Deutsche Bank.
“The optimists could argue that now we don’t need any more support because we have at least some evidence that the economy is not falling apart completely, so waiting for things to organically improve is the most likely scenario.”
Large-scale job losses might offer Mr. Obama help in pressuring Congress on his jobs bill. Strong growth in employment would help counter criticism from Republican presidential candidates. But the so-so results merely added to his dilemma.
On Capitol Hill, Republicans swiftly seized on the report to criticize the administration.
“Across the country, millions of people remain out of work and uncertainty from Washington continues to freeze capital and prevent businesses small and large from hiring,” said Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader.
He added, “Unfortunately, the policies being promoted by this administration are serving as a roadblock to growth. Constant threats of tax increases and excessive regulations send the wrong signal to our entrepreneurs, investors and small business people.”
Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota said in a statement from her presidential campaign, “The president is offering only bad medicine — higher taxes, more spending, more dubious ‘green jobs’ boondoggles and more tactical blame-gaming.”
Advocates for President Obama’s jobs bill said the aid was desperately needed to alleviate the suffering of the unemployed. The average length of unemployment rose to 40.5 weeks in September. Including those who are working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment and those who are too discouraged to look for work anymore, the total unemployment rate rose to 16.5 percent.
Jennifer Steinhauer and Michael Shear contributed reporting from Washington.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/08/business/economy/us-adds-103000-jobs-rate-steady-at-9-1.html?partner=rss&emc=rss