The unemployment rate held steady at 7.1% in September, beating estimates for an increase to 7.2%…

… thanks to over 100K full-time adds, more than offsetting continued softness in part-time employment - which dropped ~50K jobs after a 60K decline in August.

Results were mixed at the industry level, with weakness in retail trade carried by strength in manufacturing - a result we highlighted as likely in the Ivey PMI print…

… and one that’s encouraging to see, given the amount of job loss we’ve seen in the industry this year. The employment gain didn’t result in a lower unemployment rate due to a rise in workforce participation…

… which rebounded after contractions in the previous two months. For a sustained recovery, we’ll need to see higher job vacancies and lower unemployment duration.