For a second straight month, U.S. job growth proved to be bitterly disappointing in September, coming in more than 300,000 jobs short of what many economists had penciled in. That’s after August’s report initially came in almost half a million jobs below economists’ consensus estimate. But the 41-page Bureau of Labor Statistics report (pdf) features a vast range of data on the U.S. job market, and there is plenty of fodder for both the glass-half-full and glass-half-empty camps. Not surprisingly, President Joe Biden cast his lot with the first group. “Jobs up, wages up, unemployment down. That’s progress,” he said after the release of the report. Here are four data points that stood out. Unemployment Rate Drops The unemployment rate fell for a third straight month and by much more than was expected. Now at 4.8 percent, it is 10 percentage points south of its peak level in April 2020. Most …