The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The surge in hiring last month that sent the U.S. unemployment rate to a six-year low spanned an array of industries and benefited many higher-paying sectors.

Driving the gains were professional and business services, which added 81,000 jobs, the most in seven months. The category includes engineers, accountants and architects.

Overall, employers added a healthy 248,000 jobs in September, the Labor Department said Friday. The report also showed that employers added a combined 69,000 more jobs in July and August than the government had previously estimated.

The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage point to 5.9 percent, the lowest level since July 2008.

“A common query we field is, ‘Exactly which industries are creating the jobs?’ Try everything,” Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Financial Group, said in a research note.

Indeed, every major job category has recorded cumulative job gains over the past 12 months, led by professional services, education and health, and leisure and hospitality.

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