Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner Keith Hall spoke to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress today about the implications of the September labor numbers. Hall noted that overall employment rose 0.1% from August, to 9.8%. He said that significant job losses were sustained in construction, manufacturing, government, and retail last month. However, average job losses for the last 5 months were only about half that of the previous period. Still, average job gains are much lower than they were in 2008. Average hourly wages rose 2.5%. Hall said that after a preliminary examination of the numbers, they expect to revise benchmarks downward by about a quarter of one percent.
See "Labor Department official analyzes September unemployment numbers", Bizjounals.com, October 1, 2009