美國失業率降至近50年來最低

U.S. job growth slowed sharply in September likely as Hurricane Florence depressed restaurant and retail payrolls, but the unemployment rate fell to near a 49-year low of 3.7 percent, pointing to a further tightening in labor market conditions.

The Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report on Friday also showed a steady rise in wages, suggesting moderate inflation pressures, which could ease concerns about the economy overheating and keep the Federal Reserve on a path of gradual interest rate increases.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 134,000 jobs last month, the fewest in a year, as the retail and leisure and hospitality sectors shed employment.

The economy needs to create roughly 120,000 jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that the economy's outlook was "remarkably positive" and he believed it was on the cusp of a "historically rare" era of ultra-low unemployment and tame inflation.

The U.S. central bank raised rates last week for the third time this year and removed the reference in its post-meeting statement to monetary policy remaining "accommodative."

The Labor Department said it was possible that Hurricane Florence, which lashed South and North Carolina in mid-September, could have affected employment in some industries. It said it was impossible to quantify the net effect on employment.9月份美國就業增長放緩，很有可能是由於颶風佛羅倫薩的影響使得餐館和零售業就業人數減少，但失業率降至近49年來的低點3.7％，表明勞動力市場更爲緊俏。

勞工部週五公佈的備受關注的月度就業報告也顯示工資穩步上升，表明通脹壓力適度，這可能緩解對經濟過熱的擔憂，美聯儲得以繼續逐步加息。

上月非農就業人數增加了134,000人，是一年來最少的，原因是零售業、休閒和酒店業就業人數減少。

美國經濟需要每月創造大約12萬個就業崗位，以跟上適齡勞動力人口的增長。

美聯儲主席鮑威爾週二表示，經濟前景“非常樂觀”，他認爲這是一個“史上罕見”的超低失業率和溫和通脹時代的頂端。

美國央行上週第三次加息，並在會後聲明中取消了對貨幣政策保持“寬鬆”的說法。

勞工部表示，9月中旬颶風佛羅倫薩可能會影響一些行業的就業，不過無法量化這一影響。