From NYT:
. . . the Labor Department said Friday that American employers added 103,000
jobs in September, staving off the bleakest forecasts for now.
The unemployment rate for September was unchanged from August, 9.1 percent. With President Obama continuing to press a balky Congress to pass his
jobs bill, the Labor Department’s monthly snapshot highlighted the
challenges for an administration faced with an economy that has
struggled to deliver significant employment growth since the recovery
started more than two years ago.
Here's the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Its worth a read in order to fully understand the current nature of unemployment.
The data is collected for the bureau by the Census Bureau in what is called the Current Population Survey and by the BLS itself in the Current Employment Statistics survey.
Here's the description of the Current population survey:
The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of about 50,000
households conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of
Labor Statistics. The survey has been conducted for more than 50 years.
The CPS is the primary source of information on the labor force characteristics
of the U.S. population. The sample is scientifically selected to represent
the civilian noninstitutional population. Respondents are interviewed
to obtain information about the employment status of each member of
the household 15 years of age and older. However, published data focus
on those ages 16 and over. The sample provides estimates for the nation
as a whole and serves as part of model-based estimates for individual
states and other geographic areas.
And here is a description of the CES:
Each month the Current Employment Statistics (CES)
program surveys about 140,000 businesses and government agencies,
representing approximately 440,000 individual worksites, in order to
provide detailed industry data on employment, hours, and earnings of
workers on nonfarm payrolls.