WASHINGTON–The economy added 661,000 jobs in September, indicating a slowdown in job growth may be taking place. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the unemployment rate in its latest analysis stood at 7.9%.
Analysts noted the economy continues to struggle to add the 22-million jobs that have been lost since the lockdown went into effect in the Spring of this year. After adding back more than a million jobs every month between May and August, job growth slowed down last month. The country is still down 10.7 million jobs since February.
According to the New York Times, one of the reasons that fewer positions were added last month is the government itself. Over the past months, the Census Bureau had been hiring temporary workers for this year's count, adding as many as 238,000 workers between July and August alone. But in September, Census employment shrank by 41,000 jobs, the Times reported.
A number of large companies have in the most recent month also announced large-scale layoffs, including Disney (28,000 jobs) and American Airlines (19,000 jobs).