The US added 119,000 jobs in September but unemployment reached its highest level in four years, in figures that will complicate the Federal Reserve’s decision on whether to cut interest rates next month. The unemployment rate rose from 4.3 per cent in August to 4.4 per cent in September, the highest level since 2021. US President Donald Trump has long campaigned for the Fed to cut rates. The unemployment rate and hiring figures come from separate surveys carried out by the BLS, one tracking households and the other businesses. The BLS said on Wednesday that it would not release a jobs report for October as the shutdown had stopped it from collecting data for the month.

Source: The Irish Times November 20, 2025 18:48 UTC