Trucking Adds 2,600 Jobs; Unemployment Rate Holds at 9.1%

The unemployment rate held at 9.1% in September, while the economy added 103,000 jobs, including 2,600 trucking jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.

Total transportation and warehousing sector employment declined by 1,900 workers, Labor figures showed.

The static unemployment rate was in line with economists’ projections, while the number of jobs gained was well over the 60,000 forecast, Bloomberg reported.

The payrolls gain followed a revised 57,000 increase in August that was more than the unchanged level that was originally reported.

The payroll and unemployment figures are obtained by separate surveys, with payrolls from a survey of employers and the unemployment rate from a survey of households.

Factory employment dropped by 13,000, the largest drop since August 2010. Service employment rose by 85,000 jobs, the biggest gain since April.

Private hiring climbed by 137,000 jobs, including 45,000 telecommunications employees who returned to work after the resolution of a labor dispute at Verizon Communications, Bloomberg reported. Government payrolls decreased by 34,000.