America’s employers added 165,000 jobs in October — more than double the 65,000 economists expected — as unemployment fell to 4.1 percent and pay rose again, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. The gain was more than three times the average monthly increase of 48,000 over the past year.
The strength was broad. Professional and business services added 70,000 jobs, against a monthly average of 15,000 over the prior year; health care added 42,000; transportation and warehousing added 25,000; and manufacturing added 19,000. The government also revised August’s gain up to 186,000 and September’s up to 60,000 — 84,000 more jobs than first reported — putting hiring over the past three months at about 137,000 jobs a month.
The White House claimed the report as proof its programme is working. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said the number was “way more than double expectation,” called the upward revisions “ginormous,” and said the job market is “hitting on all cylinders.”
Average hourly pay rose 14 cents — 0.4 percent — to $38.00, and is up 3.1 percent over the year. The same report carried the strain underneath the headline: the number of people working part time because they could not find full-time work rose by 339,000 to 4.8 million, and about 2 million people have been out of work for more than six months. For working families, the meaning is direct — more openings and rising pay give workers leverage — and the next test comes on Tuesday, when October’s inflation figures show how much of that pay rise prices are eating.
📰 ProfiloPolitics Member News — choose your news, share it, earn credit:
https://white-curlew-963569.hostingersite.com
Never miss a story — Join our Telegram channel
Breaking U.S. political news, live as it happens — plus the stories the big outlets sit on.
Join ProfiloPolitics on Telegram