Overall, this was a solid report.

Nonfarm payrolls came in right in line with estimates at 114K, but the unemployment rate tumbled to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent last month.

What's really good is that last month's number was revised upward to 142K from 96K.

July was also revised up by 41K.

Private payrolls came in at 104K, lower than expectations of 130K. Last month's private payrolls number was revised down to 97K from 103K.

Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate actually ticked up this month, despite the drop in headline unemployment.

Here's key text from the report:

The unemployment rate decreased to 7.8 percent in September, and total nonfarm

payroll employment rose by 114,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported

today. Employment increased in health care and in transportation and warehousing

but changed little in most other major industries.



Household Survey Data



The unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage point to 7.8 percent in September.

For the first 8 months of the year, the rate held within a narrow range of 8.1

and 8.3 percent. The number of unemployed persons, at 12.1 million, decreased by

456,000 in September. (See table A-1.)



Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.3 percent),

adult women (7.0 percent), and whites (7.0 percent) declined over the month.

The unemployment rates for teenagers (23.7 percent), blacks (13.4 percent), and

Hispanics (9.9 percent) were little changed. The jobless rate for Asians, at

4.8 percent (not seasonally adjusted), fell over the year. (See tables A-1, A-2,

and A-3.)



In September, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs

decreased by 468,000 to 6.5 million. (See table A-11.)



The number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks declined by 302,000 over

the month to 2.5 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for

27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.8 million and accounted for 40.1

percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.)



Total employment rose by 873,000 in September, following 3 months of little

change. The employment-population ratio increased by 0.4 percentage point to

58.7 percent, after edging down in the prior 2 months. The overall trend in

the employment-population ratio for this year has been flat. The civilian labor

force rose by 418,000 to 155.1 million in September, while the labor force

participation rate was little changed at 63.6 percent. (See table A-1.)

More to come...

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ORIGINAL: It could be argued that this is the most important jobs report in history.

It will shade the final month of an increasingly exciting US Presidential election.

It will help determine whether the US economy is taking another leg down, or holding on.

Here are the official expectations from analysts, via Bloomberg:

Change in Nonfarm Payrolls: +115K

Change in Private Payrolls: +130K

The Unemployment Rate: 8.2%

Markets are marginally higher going into the report.

We'll have the number right here LIVE at 8:30 AM ET.

And for a full preview of what the number could mean to market, see here >