UPDATE - US adds 336,000 jobs in September, higher than estimates

ADDS PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN'S COMMENTS

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US economy added 336,000 jobs in September, sharply higher than market estimates, the Labor Department announced on Friday.

The market expectation for nonfarm payrolls was a gain of 170,000 in September.

Job additions for August were revised up by 40,000, from 187,000 to 227,000, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment rate, on the other hand, remained unchanged at 3.8% in August.

The market estimate for the figure was that it would come in at 3.7%.

The number of unemployed people also remained steady, at around 6.4 million, according to the Labor Department.

President Joe Biden said the American economy has created 13.9 million new jobs since he took office in January 2021.

"The unemployment rate has stayed below 4% for 20 months in a row, the longest stretch in 50 years," he said at the White House.

"We've achieved a 70-year low unemployment rate for women, records lows for African-Americans and Hispanic workers, and people with disabilities," he added.

The president said the nation has the highest share of working-age Americans in the workforce for 20 years.

"Inflation is coming down at the same time. It's down 60% since last summer. Core inflation was just 2.2% over the past three months. Now we have the lowest inflation of any major economy in the world," Biden added.