U.S. employers added fewer jobs than expected in September and wage gains slowed, adding to evidence of decelerating growth in the domestic economy. But in a sign of a still-tight labor market, the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined to a fresh five-decade low of 3.5%.

Here were the main numbers from the Department of Labor’s September jobs report, versus consensus expectations compiled by Bloomberg:

• Nonfarm payrolls: 136,000 vs. +145,000 expected and +168,000 in August

• Unemployment rate: 3.5% vs. 3.7% expected and 3.7% in August

• Average hourly earnings MoM: +0.00% vs. +0.2% expected and +0.4% in August

• Average hourly earnings YoY: +2.9% vs. +3.2% expected and +3.2% in August

Friday’s jobs report also saw August’s payroll additions upwardly revised to 168,000, from the 130,000 previously reported, and July’s job gains were revised up by 7,000 to 166,000. Combined with September’s print, the new three-month average for job gains was just under 157,000, versus about 189,000 during the same three months of 2018.

Wage gains missed expectations on both a monthly and annual basis, remaining flat between August and September. Over last year, average hourly earnings rose just 2.9%, marking the slowest pace of increases since July 2018.

Beneath the headline payroll additions, the vast majority of the net gains continued to come from the private service-providing sector, as opposed to its goods-producing counterpart.

Under services, health and social assistance positions saw the strongest gains, with 41,400 new payrolls added in September. Professional and business service roles rose by 34,000 during the month. But retail – another subsection of the private service-providing sector – hemorrhaged the greatest number of jobs, losing 11,400 between August and September.

Employment changes in manufacturing turned negative in September, consistent with a recent contraction reported in manufacturing sector activity. The sector lost 2,000 payrolls during the month, versus a tepid gain of 3,000 expected.

But the bright spot in the Labor Department’s report was the unexpected drop in the unemployment rate to the lowest level since December 1969. Consensus economists had expected the jobless rate to hold at 3.7% for a fourth consecutive month.

And the lower unemployment rate came as the labor force participation rate held at 63.2%, indicating that a large pool of those in the labor force are holding onto or getting jobs.

“The decline in the unemployment rate to 3.5%, the lowest since December 1969, from 3.7%, was for all the right reasons – with a very strong 391,000 gain in the household survey measure of employment easily outpacing the 117,000 increase in the labor force,” Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist for Capital Economics, wrote in a note Friday.