US unemployment rate likely steady at 4.3% in September: Chicago Fed

The US unemployment rate likely was 4.3% in September, unchanged from August, according to a new "real-time" estimate from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago published on Thursday.

It was only the second time the regional Fed bank has published its new metric, which is based on the government's Current Population Survey as well as data from non-government sources such as the online job site Indeed and Google.

The report, published Thursday, indicated that the hiring rate for unemployed workers dipped slightly and the rate of layoffs and other job separations rose a bit, but neither move was big enough to put more than "limited upward pressure" on the unemployment rate forecast, according to Reuters.

With the release of the official monthly US employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics postponed indefinitely due to the fifteenth government shutdown since 1981, the regional bank's estimate could be of great importance in helping policymakers decide on interest rates.