WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — The nation’s employers added 336,000 jobs in September, indicating ongoing confidence in hiring despite challenges like elevated interest rates and economic uncertainty.

Friday's report from the Labor Department showed that hiring last month jumped from a 227,000 increase in August, which was revised sharply higher. July's hiring was also healthier than initially estimated. The economy has now added a healthy average of 266,000 jobs a month in the past three months.

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8%.

The job market has defied an array of threats this year, notably high inflation and the rapid series of Fed interest rate hikes that were intended to conquer it. Though the Fed’s hikes have made loans much costlier, steady job growth has helped fuel consumer spending and kept the economy growing.

The September hiring report comes at a time when the Fed is deciding whether it needs to raise its benchmark rate once more this year or instead just leave it elevated well into 2024.

Yet additional threats to the economy have emerged in recent weeks, including much higher long-term interest rates, rising energy prices, the resumption of student loan payments, widening labor strikes and the ongoing threat of a government shutdown.

Copyright 2023 NEWSnet and The Associated Press. All rights reserved.