With employment increasing by far more than anticipated, the Labor Department released a report on Friday showing that the U.S. unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in over six years in the month of September.
The report said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 248,000 jobs in September following an upwardly revised increase of 180,000 jobs in August.
Economists had expected employment to increase by about 215,000 jobs compared to the addition of 142,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
Reflecting the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate fell to 5.9 percent in September from 6.1 percent in August. The unemployment rate had been expected to remain unchanged.
With the unexpected decrease, the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since hitting 5.8 percent in July of 2008.
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