US employers slammed the brakes on hiring over the last two months and wages fell in September, raising new doubts the economy is strong enough for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by the end of this year.

Payrolls outside of farming rose by 1,42,000 last month and August figures were revised sharply lower to show only 1,36,000 jobs added that month, the Labour Department said on Friday.

That marked the smallest two-month gain in employment in over a year and could fuel fears that the China-led global economic slowdown is sapping America's strength.

"You can't throw lipstick on this pig of a report," said Brian Jacobsen, a portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

US factories are feeling the global chill and shed 9,000 jobs in September after losing 18,000 in August, according to the Labour Department's survey of employers.

The recent pace of job growth should have been enough to push the unemployment rate lower because only around 100,000 new jobs are needed a month to keep up with population growth.

But the jobless rate held steady at 5.1 per cent. The unemployment rate is derived from a separate survey of households that showed 350,000 workers dropping out of the labour force last month, as well as a lower level of employment.

The share of the population in the work force, which includes people who have jobs or are looking for one, fell to 62.4 per cent, the lowest level since 1977.

Average hourly wages fell by a cent to $25.09 during the month and were up only 2.2 per cent from the same month in 2014, holding around the same levels seen all year and pointing to marginal inflationary pressures.

US stock index futures slid after the data, Treasury yields sunk and the dollar fell sharply against a basket of currencies.

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