Fed’s Labor Market Index Shows Signs of Recovery In September

Author: Tory Barringer October 6, 2014Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services0

After slowing for the fourth straight month in August, the Federal Reserve's gauge of conditions in the labor market made a slight recovery in September.

The Fed's labor market conditions index, which the central bank said it will now release on a monthly basis, added 2.5 points in September after increasing only 2 points in August—its lowest pace of growth in 13 months.

As a broad measure of the market, the Fed's index includes a number of indicators that go beyond just the national unemployment rate, including average hourly earnings, hiring rates, and labor force participation, among others. It has been cited by Fed researchers as a more comprehensive tool for the central bank's policymakers to use when considering their next move, such as ending bond purchases—a likely development next month—or raising interest rates, which they're expected to do by the middle of 2015.

After slowing down in January, the index accelerated through much of the year's first half, posting an improvement of 4.9 points in March before hitting peak growth of 7.1 points in April as the economy started a streak of strong monthly payroll gains.

The latest increase comes as the labor market reportedly added 248,000 new jobs, helping to bring the unemployment rate down to 5.9 percent.

At the same time, however, the labor force participation rate continued to drop as more Americans gave up on looking for work. According to the government's, numbers, the national U-6 unemployment rate—which includes people marginally attached to the work force and those working part-time for economic reasons—is 11.8 percent.