U.S. jobless rate drops to 7.2%

Fed officials will meet next week to discuss monetary policy, on Oct. 29-30. They surprised markets last month by sticking to their $85 billion per month bond-buying pace, saying they wanted to see more evidence of a strong recovery.

Now, many economists think the Fed will hold off on scaling back economic stimulus until next year.

Economists fear that lawmakers will engage in another bruising round early next year when Congress must agree on a budget to fund the government and once again raise the nation’s borrowing limit.

The pattern of employment gains in September was mixed last month, with government payrolls increasing 22,000 jobs after rising 32,000 in August.

The leisure and hospitality industry shed the most jobs since December 2009. There was a small bounce in information sector payrolls, which dropped in August as the motion picture industry shed workers.

Construction payrolls increased 20,000, which could ease fears of a leveling off in home building.

Manufacturing sector added only 2,000 jobs, while retail employment increased 20,800.

Other details of the employment report were mildly encouraging, with average hourly earnings increased three cents in September. The length of the average workweek held steady at 34.5 hours.

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