The September unemployment rate droped to its lowest level since Jan 2009 as the economy added 114,000 net new jobs.  What did not improve was the broader measure of employment called U6, The Under Employment Rate, which remained unchanged at 14.7% indicating that part of the improvement in the jobs report arose from workers taking part time work as employers remained cautious about the economy and hiring.  

U6 Under Employment Table: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

Hiring Notches Modest Gains

By JOSH MITCHELL and SARA MURRAY

The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in September to its lowest level since January 2009, suggesting that summer job growth was stronger than previously thought and providing new fodder for a presidential race that has focused on competing views of the nation's economic health.

Data released Friday portrayed a labor market that has perked up a bit since the spring but is still growing modestly. The unemployment rate slid to 7.8%, the Labor Department said, falling below 8% for the first time since President Barack Obama's inauguration. The rate has fallen half a percentage point since July, when it was 8.3%.

Employers added a seasonally adjusted 114,000 jobs, a tepid pace that was accompanied by data revisions boosting the number of positions added in previous months by 86,000. The new figures showed that the nation added 181,000 jobs in July and 142,000 jobs in August, and that third-quarter job growth was far higher than in the spring.

Still, part of the growth came from a surge in the number of people taking part-time jobs because full-time slots weren't available. That suggests employers continue to be reluctant to expand in the face of threats to the U.S. and global economies, including deteriorating conditions in Europe and the prospect of year-end spending cuts and tax increases in the U.S.

Read the full article at http://on.wsj.com/Wz4g72