The nation's unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent in September as 103,000 jobs were added to private and government payrolls, the Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported.
The bureau also said that in August, when it had thought there was no net growth in employment, there were actually 57,000 positions added.
Economists were expecting to hear that the jobless rate remained unchanged, and that there was net job growth of only about 55,000 positions. So the jobs figure, while still not large enough to reduce unemployment, is better than was forecast.
We'll be updating this post with highlights from the report. So check back or hit your "refresh" button to see our updates.
And, as always, our friends at Planet Money are around to explain the economy's ups and downs.
Update at 10:45 a.m. ET. "Job Market Is Frozen":
Our friend Jacob Goldstein writes at Planet Money that the pace of job growth "is enough to keep up with population growth, but not enough to drive down the unemployment rate, which has been just over 9 percent for months now. The job market seems frozen in place."
Update at 8:55 a.m. ET. Part Of Increase Due To End Of Verizon Strike:
The bureau says that "the increase in employment partially reflected the return to payrolls of about 45,000 [Verizon] telecommunications workers who had been on strike in August."
Update at 8:45 a.m. ET. Some Details:
-- There was a net gain of 137,000 jobs on private payrolls. Government agencies shed another 34,000 jobs.
-- Nearly 14 million people were officially counted as being unemployed, basically unchanged from August.
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