WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The instant reaction to the jobs report for September could be summed up in one word: “ugly.”

• “That couldn’t have gone much worse. We basically missed on all counts: September headline, August revisions, and hourly earnings. Only silver lining is stable unemployment rate.” — Guy LeBas, Janney Montgomery Scott.

• “The jobs market struck out in September as far as the Fed’s concerned. No rate hike in October now certainly, and 2015 looks increasingly impossible. If the Committee was looking for more improvement this isn’t it.” — Chris Rupkey, MUFG Union Bank.

• “The September report was a complete whiff. It eliminates any hope the Fed will raise rates at its next meeting. But more important it reinforces the ugly reality that this recovery has never gained momentum and likely will not without a change in economic policies.” — Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American Action Forum.

• “While disappointing compared with expectations, this slower job growth is more in line with the mediocre GDP growth of recent years, and also suggests that the very low productivity growth during that time is not sustainable. Part of the weakness in the recent slowdown in job growth was a result of the drop in manufacturing employment which is clearly suffering from weak exports growth. Even if employment continues to grow at about 150,000 per month, the lack of any signs of a recovery in labor force growth suggests that the unemployment rate will continue to go down, perhaps going below 5 percent by the end of the year.” — Gad Levanon, The Conference Board.