The United States posted its highest unemployment rate in four years for the month of September, despite steady job growth.
The new numbers, released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, were highly anticipated as the Trump administration confirmed this past week that they would not be publishing the newest unemployment data from October, citing the record government shutdown as the reason.
Those numbers are expected to be released in December instead.
The joblessness rate for September, however, landed at to 4.4%, slightly above market expectations of 4.3%, despite an increase of jobs overall to the tune of approximately 119,000, beating expectations of a 50,000 gain.
That upward tick was led by the healthcare sector, which saw 43,000 jobs added in September.
It was closely followed by restaurants and bars, which increased by 37,000 jobs, while retailers added 13,900.
On the other end of the scale, transportation and warehousing lost over 25,000 jobs, and federal government employment dropped by another 3,000 jobs, for a total loss of 97,000 since January, when Trump was sworn into office.
Average hourly earnings were also up for the month, by 0.2% from the previous month and 3.8% from the same time last year.
