U.S. added 254,000 jobs in September, greatly exceeding expectations

Oct. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. job growth greatly exceeded expectations in September, giving another boost to the Federal Reserve looking to ease off on the country's interest rate.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday reported that the U.S. economy added 254,000 non-farm payroll jobs in September.

The employment pickup blew past the 150,000 anticipated by Down Jones economists and was well up from the revised 159,000 jobs created in August. As a result, the unemployment rate dropped 0.1% to 4.1%.

The news comes on the heels of ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday which said that private companies added 143,000 nonfarm jobs to their payrolls last month, handily beating August figures.

"It was 'wow' across the board, much stronger than expected," Charles Schwab chief fixed income strategist Kathy Jones, said, according to CNBC. "The bottom line is it was a very good report.

The Labor Department also revised the employment totals for July up by 55,000, going from 89,000 to 144,000, painting a much rosier jobs number than initially reported.

"You get upward revisions, and it tells you the job market continues to be healthy and that means the economy is healthy," Jones said.

Restaurants and bars did robust hiring in September, adding 69,000 jobs last month, more than quadrupling their monthly average of 14,000 over the past 12 months, the Labor Department said. The healthcare sector added 45,000 jobs while the government contributed 31,000.

Other sectors adding jobs in September included social assistance (27,000) and construction (25,000).