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  October 6th, 2017 | Written by

BREAKING NEWS: US Lost 33,000 Jobs in September

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  • This was the first month to show a decrease in jobs since 2010.
  • Wages grew 0.5 percent in September.
  • Wage increases could also have been distorted by the hurricanes

September’s jobs report out of Washington showed a decline in the United States economy of 33,000 jobs. This was the first month to show a decrease in jobs since 2010.

The hurricanes that ravaged Texas and Florida were blamed for the jobs dip. Still, many economists were expecting an increase of 90,000 jobs even after the storms.

Johns Hopkins University economist Jonathan Wright estimated that Hurricanes Harvey and Irma suppressed the month’s employment growth by about 100,000 jobs, exaggerating an otherwise weak performance.

On the bright side, wages grew 0.5 percent in the month, a healthy clip. September say wage increases of 2.9 percent over the same month last year.

Those figures could also have been distorted by the hurricanes, however, as more workers—from health workers to responders to construction workers—may have put in more overtime than usual in the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

October’s wage figures will tell the story of whether the wage increases represent a trend or an anomaly.

The unemployment rate for the US economy sank to 4.2 percent, its lowest since September 2000.

Traders are expected to shrug off the job losses as an anomaly. The stock market is in bull terrotory with record highs having been set for six days in a row.

Overall economic trends remain healthy, with an average of 136,000 jobs per month created since the beginning of this year. The Commerce Department released positive manufacturing and services numbers earlier this week and polls show that more than half of all Americans believe the economy is in recovery.