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Economy Gains 263,000 Jobs in September; Unemployment Declines to 3.5%

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The U.S. economy gained 263,000 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5%, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continuing strong job creation numbers are a clear sign that the worker-friendly policies implemented by President Biden continue to have a positive impact on working people.

In response to the September job numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted the following:

September’s biggest job gains were in leisure and hospitality (+83,000), health care (+60,000), professional and business services (+46,000), manufacturing (+22,000), construction (+19,000) and wholesale trade (+11,000). Employment was down slightly for financial activities (-8,000) and transportation and warehousing (-8,000). Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, retail trade, information, other services and government.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Latinos decreased (3.8%) in September. The jobless rates for teenagers (11.4%), Black Americans (5.8%), adult men (3.3%), adult women (3.1%), White Americans (3.1%) and Asian Americans (2.5%) changed only slightly throughout the month.

The number of long-term unemployed workers (those jobless for 27 weeks or longer) in September remained about the same as in August and accounted for 18.5% of the total of people unemployed.