Debt Desk — Debt Desk — October 3, 2026: Jobs Slow, Fuel Reserves Open and Rates Stay High
Good morning. It is Saturday, October third.
The American job market lost more momentum than expected in September, giving the Federal Reserve a little more room to wait before raising rates again and giving voters another reason to question the strength of the economy.
Employers added 29,000 jobs last month. That was far below the roughly 90,000 economists expected and down sharply from a revised 133,000 in August. The unemployment rate moved up one tenth of a percentage point to 4.2 percent. Revisions also removed 60,000 jobs from the combined July and August totals.
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