Updated: 16 minutes agoFILE - An employee scans incoming items at a receiving station at the Amazon OXR1 fulfillment center in Oxnard, Calif.
Few employers are laying off workers, though many have grown more cautious about hiring. Average hourly raises were solid, too. They rose by a higher-than-expected 0.4% from August, slightly less than the 0.5% gain the month before. Measured from a year earlier, hourly wages climbed 4%, up a tick from a 3.9% year-over-year gain in August.
The economy is weighing heavily on voters as the Nov. 5 presidential election nears. Many Americans are unimpressed by the job market’s durability and are still frustrated by high prices, which remain on average 19% above where they were in February 2021. That was when inflation began surging as the economy rebounded with unexpected speed and strength from the pandemic recession, causing severe shortages of goods and labor.
The Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, reported that America’s services businesses grew for a third straight month in September and at an unexpectedly fast pace. The economy’s service sector is closely watched because it represents more than 70% of U.S. jobs. Posted job openings, too, have declined steadily, to 8 million in August, after having peaked at 12.2 million in March 2022.