The U.S. economy added 661,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate fellto 7.9%from 8.4%, the government said on Friday.
Why it matters: The final jobs report before the election showed a slowdown in hiring — a sign the labor market is in for a longer road to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
The big picture: Economists warn it will be years before the labor market fully recovers from the walloping earlier this year — if the jobs come back at all.
- Brian Rose, an economist at UBS, told Axios he expects that 5 million Americans will lose jobs permanently because of the pandemic.
In the meantime, America's labor market picture is darkening.
- This week was among the worst for the labor market in recent history, with tens of thousands of workers laid off at America’s biggest businesses — including 28,000 workers at Disney theme parks.
- Airlines are beginning to let go of 32,000 employees, in the absence of additional stimulus from Washington.
- None of these losses were factored into the jobs report, since the survey period ended in mid-September.
Go deeper: The Trump jobs record