Nonfarm payroll employment climbed by 156,000 in September andunemployment rate edged up to5.0%, according to the U.S. Labor Department's latest employment report.

The consensus estimate for month-over-month job gains was anincrease of 168,000 jobs, according to Econoday data made available byBloomberg. The unemployment rate was expected to hold steady at 4.9%.

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