A surge of hiring in September defies predictions, pointing to US job market’s enduring resilience (AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — An unforeseen burst of hiring last month has lifted hopes that the economy will prove durable once again, even as an array of threats lie ahead.

Businesses across the U.S. economy ramped up their hiring in September, defying surging interest rates, financial market turmoil, the ongoing threat of a government shutdown and an uncertain outlook to add the most jobs in any month since January.

The hiring binge confounded expectations for a slowdown and added one more layer of complexity to the Federal Reserve’s high-wire effort to defeat inflation without causing a recession.

The 336,000 jobs that were added in September exceeded the 227,000 for August and raised the average gain for the past three months to a robust 266,000. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8%, not far above a half-century low.

Friday’s government report raised hopes for a notoriously difficult “soft landing,” by which the Federal Reserve would manage to curb high inflation with a series of rate hikes without derailing the economy.

But the healthy pace of hiring also highlights the confounding nature of the U.S. economy as it navigates the uncharted post-pandemic era. A strong job market suggests that growth might be too healthy for inflation to keep declining and that the Fed
might have to further raise rates.

Speaking after the September hiring data was released, President Joe Biden asserted that the robust job growth was a result of his policies, a message he has repeated in speeches ahead of next year’s elections. Yet polls show that most adults still
hold a negative view of the economy, with Biden’s agenda having yet to make much impact on public sentiment.

The president attributed public doubts about the economy to the nature of news media coverage, which he said prioritizes the negative.

“I think that the American people are smart as hell and know what their interests are,” Biden said. “I think they know they’re better off financially than they were before.” ……………….

…. Really? You idiot wingnuts really read this far to find out Fox News lied to you?

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