EXPLAINER: 5 key takeaways from the September jobs report

WASHINGTON (AP) — September wasn't exactly the robust month for hiring that many had expected and hoped for.

With the delta variant still disrupting the economy and employers struggling to find enough workers, the gain for the month amounted to 194,000 jobs — not even half of what economists had expected. In August, the economy had added a modest 366,000 jobs. Taken together, hiring for the past two months marked a steep drop-off from the 962,000 jobs that were added in June and the 1.1 million in July.

The job market has endured wild swings since COVID-19 hammered the United States beginning in March 2020, triggering a short but harsh recession that erased 22 million jobs. Since then, employers have added back 17 million jobs as huge infusions of federal aid put money in people’s pockets and the rollout of vaccines gave many the confidence to return to shops, restaurants and bars — at least before the delta variant erupted.

Last month, private-sector businesses added 317,000 jobs, down from 332,000 in August and from a January-July average of 553,000. The leisure and hospitality sector, which includes the hotels, restaurants and bars that were most devastated by the pandemic, added 74,000 jobs. Though that figure was up from 38,000 in August, it fell far short of the January-July average of 296,000 a month.

Friday's employment news wasn’t all bad. The Labor Department revised up its hiring estimate for July and August up by a combined 169,000 jobs. And the unemployment rate dropped to 4.8% in September from 5.2% in August.

In normal times, 194,000 jobs would be considered a decent monthly gain. But as Robert Dye, chief economist at the Comerica banking company, noted: “These are not normal times. A further disappointing result in October would suggest that this is a...