Hiring by U.S. private employers fell short of expectations for September, but the unemployment rate still managed to fall to a half-century low, Bloomberg News reports. The new figures out Friday morning from the Labor Department show the U.S. created 136,000 jobs in September, less than the 145,000 forecasters had estimated. That figure was boosted by 1,000 temporary government workers who were hired to prepare for the 2020 Census count. The jobless rate unexpectedly dropped to 3.5 percent from 3.7 percent—the lowest figure since December 1969—and average hourly earnings rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier.