Will Federal Reserve delay December rate hike after lower-than-expected September jobs report?

The United States economy created just 156,000 new jobs in September. This is lower than expected as economists had projected 176,000 new jobs. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to five percent.

The pace of job creation has been sluggish since last year. Many industries, particularly energy and manufactured, have reduced their hiring initiatives. The industries that are leading the way when it comes to new hires are healthcare and technology.

The number of new jobs have been on the decline since June, when the U.S. economy added nearly 300,000 positions. In August, the national economy produced 167,000 jobs.

The number of workers not in the labor force dipped by more than 200,000 to 94.2 million.

Here is a chart from MarketWatch to give a brief snapshot of the September jobs report:

The worse-than-expected September jobs figures may cloud the Federal Reserve’s intentions to raise interest rates in December. Although a lot of the business networks are hinting that the U.S. central bank may delay a rate hike in a couple of months, the CME Group FedWatch tool shows there is still a 70 percent chance of a December rate hike.