Washington (AFP)

Job creation in the United States remained strong in September and the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since December 1969, a very good news for President Donald Trump undermined by impeachment proceedings.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.5% and the US economy again created 136,000 jobs last month. This is less than analysts expected, but the labor market proved much more robust than initially estimated in August.

A conjunction that tells economists that the world's largest economy is in the "Golden Loop Zone", neither too hot nor too cold and that fears of a short-term recession were unfounded.

The President did not make a mistake and immediately sought to gain political advantage from the good news on the theme: why remove a president who is doing so well?

"Wow America, dismiss your president (even if he did not do anything wrong!)", Quipped Donald Trump on his Twitter account.

Wall Street opened up and the dollar strengthened after the release of this employment report.

The unemployment rate has been permanently below 4% this year. And many Americans, who were simply no longer in the statistics because discouraged to find a job after the financial crisis, have returned in recent months to the job market.

Unemployment for Hispanics is at its lowest since 1973, since the beginning of statistics, the ministry said. For whites, it is at its lowest since May 1969.

For unskilled workers, it is at its lowest since 1992 since this statistic exists.

The employment participation rate, which generally indicates confidence in the economy, remained unchanged at 63.2%.

This September report was eagerly awaited because it is the last one before the October 29th and 30th US Central Bank meeting, which must decide to lower or leave interest rates unchanged.

In recent months, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has noted that the job market and household consumption were the two strengths of the US economy.

- Uncertainty -

And as the Trump administration's trade war against China begins to affect the US economy, maintaining a strong job market is helping to partially immunize the US economy against a downturn in the economy. .

On Wall Street, we expect a further rate cut for the third time this year on the basis of the slowdown in economic expansion: + 2% in the second quarter after 3.1% in the first quarter.

Especially since the uncertainty created by trade tensions discourages investors and begins to undermine consumer confidence, the traditional engine of US growth. In addition, the manufacturing industry has entered recession.

The trade balance figures have shown a sharp decline in merchandise trade between China and the United States since the beginning of the year.

Although positive, this solid report should further divide the Fed's monetary committee.

In September, three members voted against falling rates, two of which felt that the decline was unjustified by the pace of growth still strong.

Since the beginning of the year, growth in job creation has slowed, however, says the Ministry of Labor. The average of new hires over three months has indeed increased from 223,000 in 2018 to 157,000 in September.

The manufacturing industry, the first victim of the trade war, is in recession.

On the hiring front in September, the health sector recruited the most (+39,000), followed by the professional services sector (+34,000) and public sector jobs (+22,000).

The average hourly wage remained almost stable at 28.09 dollars against 28.10 dollars the previous month.

© 2019 AFP