On Friday, the Labor Department released September’s jobs report numbers, which were described by experts as the “worst of the year.”
“The economy created 194,000 jobs in September, the smallest gain since December 2020 and down from 366,000 jobs added in August,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “Many workers gave up a job search and exited the labor force last month. The smaller pool of labor meant that despite the slowdown in hiring, the unemployment rate fell to 4.8% last month from 5.2% in August.”
According to CNN’s Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans, the jobs report was “way less, way less than anybody expected” and that it was “the worst of the year.”
“This is quite a deflating report,” economic researcher Nick Bunker said. “This year has been one of false dawns for the labor market. Demand for workers is strong and millions of people want to return to work, but employment growth has yet to find its footing.”
The report comes the day after President Biden discussed the “mass firings” that were occurring a result of his COVID-19 vaccine mandates for large businesses, saying that “the bigger story” is not “mass firings” but that the mandates are working.
“These requirements work,” Biden said. “And as a business round table and others told me when I announced the first requirement that encouraged businesses to feel they could come in and demand the same thing of their employees, more people are getting vaccinated. More lives are being saved. Let’s be clear: When you see headlines and reports of mass firings, and hundreds of people losing their jobs, look at the bigger story. I’ve spoken with Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, who’s here today. United went from 59% of their employees to 99% of their employees in less than two months after implementing the requirement. 99%.”
