The Economy Adds New Jobs

WASHINGTON (AP) Job creation picked up in September but not enough to stop the unemployment rate from rising to 4.7 percent, the highest in just over a year. <br/><br/>The new job market snapshot released

Friday, October 5th 2007, 9:52 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) Job creation picked up in September but not enough to stop the unemployment rate from rising to 4.7 percent, the highest in just over a year.

The new job market snapshot released by the Labor Department on Friday showed that employers boosted payrolls by 110,000, the most in one month since last May. In an encouraging note, the economy actually added 89,000 jobs in August. That marked an improvement from the net loss of 4,000 that the government first estimated.

The bump up in the unemployment rate from 4.6 percent in August came as hundreds of thousands of people streamed back into the labor market. That new rate of 4.7 percent was the highest since the summer of 2006.

Wages, meanwhile, rose solidly.

President Bush, whose job performance ratings on handling the economy have sagged in recent months, hailed the figures as ``an indicator that this economy is a vibrant and strong economy for our country.''

President Bush cited the government's revisions showing job gains in August, initially reported as a net loss of 4,000 payroll jobs, and said that it means ``we've had 49 consecutive months of job creation, and that's the longest uninterrupted job growth on record for our country.''

``I am really pleased with the economic news but I don't take good news for granted. I understand that people are worried about their mortgage payment, concerned about sending their child to college,'' President Bush said. He exhorted Congress to ``keep taxes low.''

Altogether, Friday's report suggests that although the job market has softened, it hasn't been hit nearly as hard by a credit crunch and a housing slump as thought was the case just a month ago.

To be sure, the ill effects of these problems are showing up at some companies. Construction firms cut 14,000 jobs in September, Factories slashed 18,000. Retailers got rid of just over 5,000 jobs. Financial services companies eliminated 14,000 slots.

However, gains in education and health services, professional services, leisure and hospitality, and in government work more than offset those losses, leading to a net gain in new jobs in September.