Weak job growth reveals US economic recovery slowdown

Washington: The weak job growth report in September revealed that the economic recovery in the US in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic was slowing and may be hitting a wall, a media report said.

In a report released on Friday, the Labour Department said that non-farm payrolls increased by 661,000 in September, held back by declines in government employment and an exodus of workers, reports CNBC News.

As of September, there were still almost 11 million less jobs than there were in February, almost 4 million of which from leisure and hospitality alone.

Hours worked also remained 7 per cent below pre-Covid-19 (February) levels in September, according to the Labour Department report.

Also after a sharp fall to 8.4 per cent in August, the unemployment rate ticked lower again in September to 7.9 per cent.

Also the number of people receiving jobless benefits fell another 980,000 in the week after the September payroll survey reference period.

"This report is an illusion of progress at a time when we needed accelerating gains in the labor market. The number of jobs added this month is just not enough," the CNBC News report quoted Nick Bunker, economic research director at job placement site Indeed, as saying.

"This report is massively concerning. We are not where we need to be, nor are we moving fast enough in the right direction as we head into fall."

There were however, a few positives out of the Labour Department report

It included a private sector job creation of 877,000 – the net non-farm figure included a loss in government jobs – was only a touch off the 913,000 FactSet consensus.