September jobs report today at 5:30 a.m. PT: what to watch

The government's monthly jobs report comes out this morning. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the September Employment Situation report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, which is 5:30 a.m. Pacific.

For context, here is where things stood last month. In August, employers added 162,000 jobs, well above the average of 31,000 a month over the prior 12 months. The unemployment rate held at 4.1%, with about 7 million people unemployed. Average hourly earnings for private workers rose 10 cents to $37.75, up 3.1% from a year earlier. Restaurants and bars and local government education added the most jobs, while the information sector lost 23,000.

There was an early hint this week. On Wednesday, payroll company ADP reported that private employers added 90,000 jobs in September, above the 68,000 economists expected, according to TheStreet. ADP and the government count jobs differently, so the two numbers often do not match.

For most households, the headline number matters less than a few details: whether wages are growing faster than prices, and whether hiring is spreading across industries or concentrated in a few. Interest rates have been high this fall, and markets often react to this report.

If you are job hunting or thinking about asking for a raise, the wage figure in today's report is a useful number to know, and you can find it on the BLS website.