The Labor Department reported the economy created 148,000 jobs in September after adding 193,000 the prior month--forecasters had expected a much better showing. Unemployment fell to 7.2 percent, largely because 91,000 more adults chose not to participate in the labor force.
In September, anticipation of the government shutdown may have somewhat influenced hiring, but those effects are difficult to discern. For example, while uncertainty caused firms to delay, it may have encouraged others to rely on multiple part-timers actually boosting the jobs count.
In October, some impact from furloughing government employees will be felt, but experience with past similar events indicates the overall drag on the economy and jobs growth will prove imperceptible by next spring. Simply, much of the lost government and consumer spending will be made up, especially since federal employees will receive back pay.
In 2013, nearly half of the employment growth has been in part-time positions. Since January, 456,000 more adults reported working part-time positions, while 525,000 indicated they had obtained full-time employment.
Obama Care's mandates for employer paid health insurance coverage encourage more part-time hiring. Also, driving this trend are the growing importance of services like retailing and hospitality, rigidity, and visceral anti-business campaigns of unions--such as those targeting McDonalds and Wal-Mart.
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