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Job growth fell short of expectations in September as efforts by the Federal Reserve to slow inflation took their toll on hiring, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 263,000 for the month, compared to the Dow Jones estimate of 275,000. The unemployment rate was 3.5% versus the forecast of 3.7%. September’s payroll figure marked a deceleration from the 315,000 gain in August and tied for the lowest monthly increase since April 2021. In the closely watched wage numbers, average hourly earnings rose 0.3% on the month, in line with estimates, and 5% from a year ago, an increase that is still well above the pre-pandemic norm but 0.1 percentage point below the forecast. Stock market futures moved lower after the release while government bond yields rose. From a sector view, leisure and hospitality led the gains with an increase of 83,000, a gain that still left the industry 1.1 million jobs short of its February 2020 pre-pandemic levels. Elsewhere, health car...

Consumers who have been squeezed by higher prices may be experiencing a little relief. Fewer adults now say they are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a new LendingClub report. As of July, 59% of Americans   said they lived paycheck to paycheck, down from 61% in June but still higher than a year ago, when the number of adults who felt stretched too thin was 54%. Lower-income workers have been the hardest hit by price spikes this year, particularly for food and other staples, since those expenses account for a bigger share of the budget, studies show. Roughly three-quarters of consumers annually earning less than $50,000 and 63% of those earning between $50,000 and $100,000 were living paycheck to paycheck in July, based on LendingClub’s numbers. Even though top earners have also been struggling to make ends meet, wealthier Americans feel less financially strained, the report found. Of those earning $200,000 or more, roughly 30% reported living paycheck to paycheck, down from ...