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Unemployment Rate Dips To 9 Percent; 80,000 Jobs Added

The nation's unemployment rate ticked down to 9 percent in October from 9.1 percent in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported.

Meanwhile, there was a net gain of 80,000 jobs on public and private payrolls. Private-sector employment went up by 104,000 jobs. Government agencies reduced their payrolls by 20,000.

We'll have more from the report shortly.

Update at 8:40 a.m. ET. More Details:

-- Stuck Around 9 Percent: "The unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2 percent since April," BLS says.

-- Slow, But Steady? According to BLS, "over the past 12 months, payroll employment has increased by an average of 125,000 per month."

-- August, September Were Slightly Better Than First Thought: The bureau says about 100,000 more jobs were added to payrolls in August and September than it initially estimated. "The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for August was revised from +57,000 to +104,000, and the change for September was revised from +103,000 to +158,000."

-- Temps And Consultants: "Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up in October (+32,000) and has grown by 562,000 over the past 12 months," the report says. "Within the industry, there have been modest job gains in recent months in temporary help services and in management and technical consulting services."

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.