Key Points:
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 150,000 in October and the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9%.
- Consensus among economists was a gain of 180,000 jobs.
- The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for August was revised down by 62,000, from +227,000 to +165,000, and the change for September was revised down by 39,000, from +336,000 to +297,000.
- With these revisions, employment in August and September combined is 101,000 lower than previously reported.
- Health care added 58,000 jobs in October, government increased by 51,000, construction employment increased by 23,000, and social assistance added 19,000 jobs.
- Employment in manufacturing decreased by 35,000 in October, reflecting a decline of 33,000 in motor vehicles and parts that was largely due to strike activity.
- In October, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by $0.07 to $34.00.
- The average workweek for all private employees edged down by 0.1 hours to 34.3 hours in October.
- The labor force participation rate was little changed at 62.7% and is 0.7% below its February 2020 level.
- In October, the unemployed population rose to 6.5 million but there were 9.6 million job openings in September.