The U.S. unemployment rate dipped below 6 percent for the first time since July 2008, with nonfarm payrolls adding 248,000 new jobs in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
The jobless rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 5.9 percent. Employment increased in professional and business services, retail trade and health care, BLS says. The data was stronger than expected. Employers also added about 69,000 more jobs in July and August than the government first reported.
Many economists consider 5.5 percent unemployment a "healthy number," and as the unemployment rate moves closer to that figure, The Associated Press says it "could ratchet up pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark interest rate."
Even with the new jobs, nearly 100,000 people stopped looking for work. The number of Americans working or looking for work was at 62.7 percent, the lowest proportion since February 1978, the AP says.
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