The October Jobs Report

The US economy created 261,000 net new jobs last month. That’s the smallest monthly increase since December 2020. Wall Street had been expecting an increase of 205,000.

The unemployment rate rose 0.2% to 3.7%. The Labor Force Participation Rate declined for the second month in a row to 62.25%.

There are 99.9 million Americans who are either unemployed or out of the jobs market entirely.

In the last year, average hourly earnings are up by 4.7%. That’s the smallest increase in over a year.

The civilian labor force participation rate for prime working age people is 82.5%.

Average hourly earnings grew 4.7% from a year ago and 0.4% for the month, indicating that wage growth is still likely to pressure inflation. The yearly growth met expectations while the monthly gain was slightly ahead of the 0.3% estimate.

Health care led job gains, adding 53,000 positions, while professional and technical services contributed 43,000 and manufacturing grew by 32,000.

Leisure and hospitality also posted solid growth, up 35,000 jobs, though the pace of growth has slowed considerably from the gains posted in 2021. The group, which includes hotel, restaurant and bar jobs along with related sectors, is averaging gains of 78,000 a month this year, compared to 196,000 last year.

Heading into the holiday shopping season, retail posted only a modest gain of 7,200 jobs. Wholesale trade added 15,000 while transportation and warehousing was up 8,000.

Posted by on November 4th, 2022 at 8:37 am


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