Economy: Job market stumbles

Reeling from the effects of hurricanes in Texas and Florida, the U.S. economy shed 33,000 jobs in September, ending a historic 83-month stretch of job growth, said Patricia Cohen in The New York Times. Economists largely “discounted the discouraging report, describing it as a blip in a job market that was fundamentally strong.” The jobless rate fell slightly, to 4.2 percent, the lowest since February 2001. Wages showed an impressive year-over-year gain of 2.9 percent, but that growth was probably “exaggerated, because many low-wage workers were temporarily displaced by the storms” and not counted.