A new jobs report for September released on Tuesday "showed the economic recovery continues to be sluggish and many economists warn that the constant fiscal fights in Washington only threaten to make the situation worse," Politico reported.
The U.S. economy added 148,000 jobs in September as the unemployment rate dropped to 7.2 percent, according to news reports.
The September jobs report was delayed because of the 16-day government shutdown.
"It's a soft report. The worrisome thing is this is September - this is before the shutdown effects and it feels like we're going into [October] with not a lot of momentum," said Mark Zandi.
"The October survey will be compromised by the late survey and the unquantifiable indirect private sector job losses triggered by the shutdown, and the November numbers will be compromised by the recovery - we hope - of these same jobs," added Pantheon's Ian Shepherdson. "It won't be possible to know exactly what the payroll numbers would have been in either month, absent the shutdown."
The "monthly jobs report is being closely watched by the Federal Reserve, which is deciding when to begin scaling back its economic stimulus programs, Politico also reported. The central bank's policy making committee next meets on October 29," Politico reported.
The percentage of Americans working or searching for work is 63.2 peorcent, the lowest it has been since 1978, news reports said. "36.9 percent of the unemployed - 4.1 million people - have been jobless for at least 27 weeks, down about 725,000 during the past year," Politico also reported.
