Washington, 4 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) - A closely watched report released by the US Department of Labor on Friday showed employment in the US increased by much more than expected in the month of September.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 254,000 jobs in September after climbing by an upwardly revised 159,000 jobs in August.

Economists had expected employment to rise by 140,000 jobs compared to the addition of 142,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The stronger-than-expected job growth partly reflected notable increases in employment in the leisure and hospitality and health care and social assistance sectors, which added 78,000 jobs and 71,700 jobs, respectively.

The report also showed the unemployment rate edged down to 4.1% in September from 4.2% in August. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.

The unexpected dip in the unemployment rate came as the household survey measure of employment surged by 430,000 persons compared to the 150,000-person increase in the labour force.

"The job market had been weakening this year, but appears to be firming up," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance. He added, "This should put to rest - at least for the next month - the idea that the economy is about to fall off a cliff or that imminent doom is on the horizon."

The report also said average hourly employee earnings climbed by $0.13 or 0.4% to $35.36 in September. The annual rate of wage growth ticked up to 4.0% in September from 3.9% in August.