Jobs Report, Unemployment Rate, Participation: 3 Things to Watch

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- Stocks fell again on Thursday as investors held their breath for Friday’s much-anticipated report on jobs for September.

On Wall Street, anxiety is growing over the possibility that the Federal Reserve's aggressive actions to raise interest rates this year will overshoot the mark and take the economy into a recession.

A tight labor market and unemployment rates near multi-decade lows have given the Fed no reason to quit its hawkish stance, even as evidence that the economy is cooling is growing, especially in the housing market and on Main Street, where layoffs are growing.

Jobless claims for last week were slightly higher than expected but not seen as strong enough evidence for the Fed to take its foot off the accelerator. 

Fed officials have beaten the drum this week that the central bank intends to keep going until it deems the job complete. The Fed already signaled last month it is heading for another 125 basis point increase this year.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Jobs for September

The jobs report comes out at 8:30 ET (12:30 GMT). Analysts tracking it expect the economy added 250,000 jobs last month, which would be down from 315,000 added in August.

2. Unemployment rate

The unemployment rate is also expected out at the same time, and analysts expect it to stay the same as the month before, 3.7%. That is an important goal of the Fed’s: cooling off the economy without sparking large job losses. The Fed has pointed to still-high job openings.

3. Participation rate

The labor market participation rate is another measure the Fed watches closely. The reading for August was 62.4% and policymakers would like to see that number rise to ease the tightness of the labor market. August’s reading was the highest since April.