The unemployment rate fell in September to the lowest level since the Vietnam War while hiring cooled slightly, the latest signs of an extremely tight labor market.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.7% from 3.9% in August, the lowest rate since December 1969, the Labor Department said Friday.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 134,000 in September, the smallest gain in a year. That could in part reflect slower hiring in some sectors due to Hurricane Florence but is also a sign some employers find filling jobs a challenge. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 180,000 new jobs and a 3.8% unemployment rate.
Wages increased last month and advanced 2.8% from a year earlier.
The latest data is consistent with a “strong economy and an increasingly tight labor market,” said Scott Brown, economist at Raymond James. With broader economic growth accelerating, employers are easily absorbing new entrants into the labor market, helping push down unemployment to levels rarely seen outside of major military deployments.
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