U.S. employers added just 29,000 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate rose a tenth of a percentage point to 4.2%, the Labor Department announced Friday. Both results failed to meet expectations, as analysts had projected job growth of about 90,000 and a steady unemployment rate for the month.

Job growth in the previous two months was moved lower, as well, with the numbers for July reduced by 31,000, moving the final tally to a loss of 10,000, and August falling by 29,000 to 133,0000.

The healthcare sector provided the majority of the growth in September, as it has for many months, adding a weaker-than-usual 17,000 jobs. Construction firms created 11,000 jobs, and manufacturers 9,000.

Employment in federal, state and local governments fell by 17,000, while professional and business services firms cut 9,000 jobs.

Wages grew 3.0% on an annual basis, the smallest 12-month gain since May 2021.

What the analysts are saying: Analysts downplayed the miss in the top-line numbers, saying the labor market appears to be holding more or less steady, despite the monthly variations. From July through September, job growth has averaged 51,000 per month, a level many economists see as a stable level in a "low hire, low fire" job market.

"The September employment report came in a little bit softer than expected but overall wasn't too worrying," JPMorgan's Michael Feroli wrote in a note to clients. Feroli pointed out that the unemployment rate rose because 485,000 people entered the workforce, a positive sign about the strength of the economy. And he described the three-month growth average as being "close to most estimates of trend monthly growth in the labor supply, i.e. breakeven job growth."

RSM Chief Economist Joseph Brusuelas said the labor market appears to have settled into a new normal, shaped by political policy and basic demographics. "Growth in the domestic supply of labor will remain soft given the well-known long-term demographic challenges posed by the retirement of baby boomers and restrictive immigration policies," he said in a research note . "Soft readings like September's and an underlying trend of around 50,000 new jobs added monthly will be the norm over the next two years at the least."