Following a disappointing August, the U.S. economy added a meager 194,000 jobs in September, as a critical shortage of workers continues to hamper the nation’s economic growth.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent from 5.2 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. Economists had been expecting an increase of 500,000 and an unemployment rate of 5.1 percent…

And supply pressures are still unrelenting. This makes it difficult, economists say, to tease out exactly how much worker pay is contributing to the inflationary forces that are behind companies raising their prices. “It certainly is a contributing factor, but as far as the items we’re watching for inflation, it still pales in comparison to supply issues and Covid-19 issues,” Mayfield said.