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Modest Job Growth, No Change In Unemployment Rate Expected

The scene earlier this month at a job fair in Sunrise, Fla.
Joe Raedle
/
Getty Images
The scene earlier this month at a job fair in Sunrise, Fla.

Update at 8:35 a.m. ET. The Report Is Out:

Fewer Jobs Than Expected In Sept., But Jobless Rate Fell

Our original post follows:

Two and a half weeks late because of the partial government shutdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' report on job growth and unemployment in September is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.

As NPR's Chris Arnold said on Morning Edition, economists expect to hear the jobless rate was unchanged, at 7.3 percent, and that employers added about 180,000 jobs to their payrolls in September. This would be slightly more than were added in August — if the preliminary estimate for that month isn't changed from the 169,000 that BLS reported earlier.

On Morning Edition, Chris also talked about how job growth has been slowed because many employers are nervous about hiring. They're bothered by what's been happening in Washington, where policymakers don't seem able to come to agreement on a consistent economic policy. Some economists say about 900,000 more jobs might have been added to payrolls in recent years "if politicians were doing a better job of charting a course forward," Chris said.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.