Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) — A surprisingly powerful surge in hiring pushed unemployment to a six-year low of 5.9 percent in September as the U.S. labor market showed renewed vigor.

The 248,000 gain in payrolls followed a 180,000 increase in August that was bigger than previously estimated, the Labor Department reported in Washington. Revisions boosted the job count by 69,000 over the previous two months. The jobless rate fell from 6.1 percent to the lowest level since July 2008.

"This report was strong across the board," said Dean Maki, chief U.S. economist at Barclays Plc in New York and the top payrolls forecaster over the past two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. "The labor market continues to grow fast enough to keep pushing the unemployment rate down."

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