Environmental Career Center – Helping people work for a better environment since 1980

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today (October 5) that employers added 114,000 jobs in September with the unemployment rate decreasing to 7.8%.  The drop in the unemployment rate .3%  jobs number is better than than economists anticipated with the rate below 8% for the first time in nearly four years.   Significantly, July and August jobs numbers were revised upward by 86,000 jobs (+40,000 in July and +46,000 in August).  The number of unemployed Americans now stands at 12.1 million, the fewest since January 2009.  It is the 31st straight month of positive job growth.  125,000 jobs are needed each month to keep up with growth in the potential labor force.