What's going on?

Data released on Friday showed that the US economy added 136,000 jobs in September. And while that was fewer than economists predicted, the country�s unemployment rate also fell to 3.5%: a 50-year low.

What does this mean?

Investors largely ignored the disappointing job additions � perhaps because the official estimates for job growth in previous months were simultaneously increased. And those that were added may be more permanent: only 1,000 September hires were due to preparations for next year�s US census, compared to 25,000 in August.


There wasn�t much change in the number of people available to work last month, but more of them found jobs � which helped lower the unemployment rate. More working people bodes well: they�ll receive salaries which they can spend on sustaining the US�s longest-ever period of economic expansion.

Why should I care?

For markets: Stuck in the middle.

Between Friday�s jobs data and the surprisingly weak US manufacturing and services industry survey results published last week, investors didn�t know whether they were coming or going: they sold off stocks early last week, only to buy them back by the time Saturday rolled around. Some had predicted a weaker US economy might lead its central bank to lower the country�s interest rates again this month, giving stock prices a boost � although solid job creation may now make that less likely.

The bigger picture: America, you�ll have to WeWork harder.

The hammer hasn�t fallen just yet, but future US jobs data will have to pedal uphill against announced job cuts from under-fire coworking space company WeWork. It�s shortly putting 2,000 employees � a quarter of its workforce � OutOfWork. Likewise Silicon Valley tech company HP: it�s flagged 9,000 job cuts (16% of its staff) to come over the next few years in order to reduce costs. And these companies aren�t alone: in September, US retailers shed employees for the eighth month in a row.