Job Growth Slowed in September

The U.S. added just 148,000 jobs in September, slowing down gains made during the summer, according to the latest jobs report released on Tuesday. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, dropped to 7.2 percent, its lowest level since November 2008. The weaker-than-expected jobs numbers are a sign that the economy was weakened before the costly government shutdown, which economists estimate could result in as much as 0.6 percent loss in the fourth-quarter GDP. The release of the official jobs numbers was delayed due to the government shutdown.