261,000 jobs added in October

Numbers are seasonally adjusted. Source: BLS.gov

261,000 jobs added in October jobs report

The October jobs report showed an increase in total nonfarm employment by 261,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.1 percent – 2.2 percent for the finance industry. There was a sharp increase in employment in bars, restaurants and hotels, which a direct result of hurricane recovery. Additionally, September’s report was revised up from a loss of 33,000 jobs to a gain of 18,000 jobs. Employment also increased in professional and business services, manufacturing and health care.

The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates in December. Despite concern about the lack of inflation, particularly the hourly wage growth being flat month-over-month, we should still prepare for that increase.

Economists’ predictions

The October jobs report fell short of Wall Street expectations of a 310,000 increase in jobs, but the unemployment rate came in .1 percent below expectations.

“Today’s report, albeit a little bit mixed, is still a relatively decent number. It still points towards the positive trend that we’ve seen in payroll growth over the last several months and the last couple of years actually,” said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank. “In general, the economy is moving along, though a little softer than many market participants anticipated.”

This Month’s Jobs Report

Let’s break down the numbers from this month’s jobs report

In October, hourly wages increased by $-0.01 to $26.53 per hour, following a 12 cent increase in September. This brings the year-over-year wage percentage increase to 2.4 percent. The unemployment rate saw a slight downtick to 4.1 percent.

BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.