By Jessica Menton -
This story was updated at 8:50 a.m. EDT
U.S. employers added 142,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate remained at 5.1 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. The report was forecast to show employers adding 203,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate was expected to hold steady at 5.1 percent, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Amid the recent stock market turmoil and concerns of a slowing global economy, economists question whether the U.S. is strong enough to move away from crisis-level interest rates. In September, U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged last month but left the door open to hiking rate as early as October. Nearly half (47%) of experts predict the central bank will raise rates in December, according to Bankrate.com.
Even so, many economists are still not seeing the accelerated growth that suggests the economy needs to slow -- or that businesses are experiencing wage pressure.
Wage growth -- which has been stagnant for years -- remained at 2.2 percent. The average hourly earnings for private-sector workers fell by 1 cents to $25.09. For most workers, however, real wages have fallen or remained flat for more than three decades.
Part of the reason real wage growth remains stagnant is because the recovery has come with stronger employment growth in low-wage industries, such as accommodation and food services, temporary help services, retail trade and long-term health care. These jobs account for nearly two-fifths of all new jobs added since the labor market bottomed out in February 2010, according to the Center for American Progress.
Somewhat troubling, though, the labor force participation rate continues to drop, which indicates more Americans giving up on finding work.
The number of Americans who have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer was essentially unchanged last month, at 2.1 million, constituting 26.6 percent of the unemployed. Meanwhile, many Americans who work part-time jobs want to work full time, and nearly two-thirds who are able to work have dropped out of the labor force, the highest proportion opting out of the workforce since the 1970s.
The labor-force participation rate remains at its lowest level since the late 1977s, a near 40-year low. That rate fell to 62.4 percent from the prior month, according to the report released Friday.
One thing to consider is the August payrolls report is notoriously revised higher. However, the change for August was revised from 173,000 to 136,000. Over the past 5 years or so the August payroll count tends to be revised up by 75,000 to 100,000 over time, John Canally, chief economic strategist at LPL Financial, said in a note.