Canada's job market lost ground for a second straight month in September. Statistics Canada reported on Oct. 9 that employment fell by 68,000, or 0.3%, and the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 6.5%.
The number of people marginally attached to the labor force fell by 236,000 to 1.468 million in September, BLS said, while the broader number outside the labor force who wanted a job changed little.
ISM’s Manufacturing Employment Index rose to 52.7 in September from 51.2. Eight of 18 industries reported employment growth, up from seven in August, but the number reporting declines doubled to six.
U.S. employers added 29,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate was 4.2%, up from 4.1% in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. July and August payroll gains were revised down by a combined 60,000.
ADP estimated that private employers added 90,000 jobs in September, up from a revised 36,000 in August. Education and health services and mid-sized establishments accounted for most of the gain, while financial and professional services shed jobs.
Initial jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 197,000 in the week ended September 19. The reading points to restrained layoffs, not a pickup in hiring, which July JOLTS data still show as subdued.
August payrolls rose 162,000, but the revised three-month average is about 71,000, hiring and quit rates are subdued and layoffs remain low. The evidence fits a cooling market better than a breaking one, with caveats.
