According to U.S. government data released on Friday, nonfarm payroll additions for September rose by only 142,000 in September. The reading proved to be disappointing as it fell short of the 203,000 figure analysts were looking for, and lagged August's reading of 173,000 new job adds.
U.S. equities heavily sold off following the jobs report. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) lost more than 1.25 percent, while the PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (ETF) (NASDAQ: QQQ) was off by nearly 1.40 percent.
Related Link: Jobs Report Stinker Resets Interest Rate Debate Yet Again
'Disappointing' Jobs Figure
Speaking to Benzinga, Tara Sinclair, chief economist for the job site Indeed and a professor at George Washington University, commented that the jobs figure was "disappointing," especially so soon after the Fed has decided to keep interest rates at record low levels.
Sinclair continued that the jobs report is a sign that the Fed "may really be out of gas" in terms of what it can do for the economy.
'Strong' Job Growth Indicated
However, Sinclair noted that she continues to see "strong" job growth on Indeed, and the most recent JOLTS data indicated 5.8 million job openings in the United States. Nevertheless, Friday's jobs figure also showed a slight decline in wages.
"Either employers aren't yet serious about filling the roles that are open, or they need to work harder to get people to take the jobs," Sinclair noted. "With record job openings combined with a low non-farm payroll number of 142,000, you'd expect to see wage increases as employers try to draw people back into the labor force and compete over existing workers."
Bottom line, Sinclair argued that there are still available workers looking to fill available jobs. The problem may stem from the fact that employers may not benefit economically from offering higher wages, or may be unwilling to train lower cost workers.
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