Mixed Jobs Report Shows Unemployment Down to 7.8%

The jobs report prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics had mixed news today. Job growth was mediocre - only 114,000 new jobs were added in September, which isn't even enough to keep up with population growth. The top-line unemployment number fell to 7.8% and there was actually an increase in the labor force participation rate.

The biggest news consisted of revisions to previous reports. BLS revised the previous two months up by almost 100,000 total jobs (there were 40,000 more jobs added to August and 44,000 jobs added to July).

The economy has remained sluggish, even with the positive revision in this jobs report and a drop in the unemployment rate. But the top-line number - the unemployment rate drops below 8% - could be the largest story to come out of this.

This is certainly a better report than the past few months. Revisions have retroactively made those months look better as well, but the economy is still not showing signs of a strong bounce-back.