Hospitality Tops US September Jobs Report

The leisure and hospitality sector represented the strongest segment of job growth in September for the United States, CNBC reports.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed a net total of 96,000 jobs gained for the sector last month, which was more than the totals for August and July combined. Bars and restaurants showed the strongest growth within the sector, with 61,000 added jobs.

In second place was the government sector, with a net gain of 73,000 jobs. Healthcare and social assistance came in third, with a net gain of 65,900 jobs.

According to CNBC, the job gain came as a surprise to economic experts and sparked a sell-off in the U.S. bond market. The large growth also indicated that the U.S. economy might be introducing new workers into the job market.

Jason Furman, Harvard professor and former National Economic Council director, said on CNBC’s financial report program Squawk Box, “We’re creating jobs at a clip of nearly 300,000 a month over the last three months. That is way above what you need for the normal replacement rate, but we have seen a higher participation rate. So maybe what we’re seeing here is a labor supply, not labor demand.”

CNBC also noted that recent labor disputes could have been a variable that affected some of the job numbers. However, the recent Kaiser Permanente strike was not figured into the September job gains for the healthcare sector, which, at 41,000 jobs gained, was down from its 12-month average. To learn more about the Kaiser Permanente walk-off, the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history, read Over 75K US Healthcare Workers Go on Strike.