Job Growth Rebounds, but Wages Lag --- Unemployment Rate Falls Below 6% for First Time Since Recession, Fueling Hopes for Faster Recovery --- WASHINGTON—The nation’s unemployment rate slipped below 6% for the first time since the recession as hiring returned to a strong pace, lifting hopes for an economy that continues to show sluggish wage growth and persistent underemployment. -- Employers added 248,000 jobs in September, rebounding from a weak August, the Labor Department said Friday. Payrolls have expanded an average 227,000 a month this year, putting 2014 on track to be the strongest year of job growth since the late 1990s. -- The jobless rate fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 5.9%, the lowest level since July 2008, continuing a slide that partly reflects a shrunken labor force. Unemployment, nearly five years after surging to 10% in the wake of the recession, is moving closer to the 5.2%-5.5% range the Federal Reserve expects to see in the long run. -- “I think we’ve finally reached that promised land of a self-sustaining, self-reinforcing economic recovery,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. PNC +0.95% PNC Financial Services Group Inc. U.S.: NYSE $85.01 +0.80 +0.95% Oct. 3, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2.45M AFTER HOURS $85.01 0.00 % Oct. 3, 2014 4:31 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 9,208 P/E Ratio 11.44 Market Cap $45.52 Billion Dividend Yield 2.26% Rev. per Employee $299,028 10/03/14 Job Growth Rebounds, but Wages... 09/30/14 Target's Lack of CISO Was 'Roo... 09/26/14 In Bill Gross's Wake, Some Fin... More quote details and news » PNC in Your Value Your Change Short position -- The robust jobs number, along with news of the unemployment rate falling below 6%, propelled stocks higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 208.64 points, or 1.2%, to 17009.69, ending four days of declines. The dollar soared against major currencies. -- The upbeat report was tempered by weak earnings growth and continued high underemployment, reflecting workers stuck in part-time jobs. -- But it still heightened prospects the Fed would move sooner than expected—perhaps in early 2015—to raise short-term interest rates. Central-bank policy makers, set to meet again in late October, have kept the Fed’s rate target near zero since the recession to fuel the recovery. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen has said the bank could move up its timetable for raising rates if growth continues to exceed expectations. --- The labor-force participation rate—reflecting the share of working-age Americans who have a job or are looking for one—fell last month to a three-decade low of 62.7%. Before the recession it stood at 66%. Only part of the decline is due to aging baby boomers; even among Americans in the prime working ages of 25 to 54, participation is historically low. --- And workers’ wages still have yet to climb significantly. Among private-sector workers, average hourly earnings actually fell a penny last month, to $24.53. They have risen 2% over the past year. This is the second expansion in a row including the recovery after the 2001 recession, where economic growth hasn’t translated into rising incomes for most Americans. --- Despite the latest progress, 9.3 million workers are still searching for work, almost a third of them unemployed for six months or more. A broader unemployment measure including part-time workers who can’t find full-time jobs and those too discouraged to apply for work stood at 11.8% in September. - Read More, WSJ, http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-job-growth-rebounds-in-september-1412339557