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After several months of subpar jobs reports, the delayed September nonfarm payrolls report was better than most economists expected. Or was it?

The shutdown-delayed jobs report for September, released Thursday morning, showed that 119,000 jobs were added, more than twice the 50,000 that economists expected and about five times more than the 22,000 added in August.

However, the unemployment rate rose to 4.4%, the highest in four years. That is up from 4.3% in August and higher than projected. Also, the jobs totals for July and August were revised down by a total of 33,000, making the three-month average lower.

“The September jobs report had a decent payrolls headline, but most other details were weak, effectively cancelling out that good news,” Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, said. “In particular, the unemployment rate’s increase to the highest in nearly four years shows that labor demand is not keeping up with growth of the workforce.”

Adams noted that the Fed will also look at alternative data sources on the jobs market for October, which showed that job growth was fairly weak and hiring intentions have cooled.

Comerica sees the softening jobs market as making a rate cut more likely than not at the Fed’s December decision,” Adams said. “Financial markets are pricing in about four in ten odds of a cut in December.”

A Fed dividend

Stocks initially rose after the opening bell, helped by strong earnings reports from Nvidia and Walmart. But then sentiment started to shift. Just after 10:30 a.m. ET, stocks started moving lower, perhaps due to concerns that the jobs report might complicate a December rate cut.

Investor concern became heightened following comments by Chicago Fed President and FOMC member Austan Goolsbee at an event in Indianapolis Thursday morning. Goolsbee said he was cautious about cutting rates too fast, with inflation rates stalled and the economy fairly strong. He also expressed hesitancy due to the lack of recent government data due to the shutdown.

“In my view, the underlying economy is pretty strong and eventually rates can come down a fair amount, but in the near term I’m a little uneasy front loading too many rate cuts, and counting on this will be transitory and inflation will go back down,” Goolsbee said, reported various outlets, including Reuters and Investing.com.

This sentiment confirms what was gleaned from the minutes of the FOMC October meeting. The minutes, released Wednesday, showed that that there is a split among members on what to do in December.

“Several participants assessed that a further lowering of the target range for the federal funds rate could well be appropriate in December if the economy evolved about as they expected over the coming intermeeting period,” the October FOMC minutes said. “Many participants suggested that, under their economic outlooks, it would likely be appropriate to keep the target range unchanged for the rest of the year.”

Is “several” more than “many,” or vice versa? And did the September jobs report change any minds on the FOMC?

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