Think the jobs report was bad? Wait until the next one

Think how much better it would be if we got co-operation from the Republicans?

The US economy sputtered toward creating just 148,000 jobs last month. And that was before the government shutdown and debt-ceiling fight.

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that the economy added just 148,000 new jobs in September, once again missing expectations and marking yet another month of barely-there economic recovery.

August's numbers were revised up to 193,000 from 169,000, while July's sluggish numbers were revised down to 89,000 from 104,000, the slowest rise since June 2012. The trend line does not look good.

On the positive side, the unemployment rate scooted down from 7.3 percent in August to 7.2 percent in September. That's the lowest jobless rate since November 2008. And unlike recent months, "the unemployment rate declines seems genuine, rather than labor force dropout-driven," says The Wall Street Journal's Steven Russolillo. Past monthly unemployment rate declines have been attributed to large numbers of people giving up on looking for work entirely -- and thus not being counted as part of the potential workforce. But that wasn't the case in September.

Still, the unemployment numbers -- the release of which were delayed because of the government shutdown -- aren't particularly good. And adding to the unease is the fact that the numbers don't account for a tumultuous October in Washington. This report does not reflect any adverse economic effects of the 16-day government shutdown, which put hundreds of thousands of government workers on furlough, and the concurrent debt ceiling fight, which may have rattled the already fragile economy. Any damage from October's drama, which "caused consumer confidence to plummet," won't be apparent until next month's numbers are released, says The New York Times.

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