U.S. Adds 165k Jobs in October; Unemployment Rate Ticks Down to 4.1%

U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in October, well above the average monthly gain of 48,000 over the past year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment ticked down to 4.1% from 4.2% in September.

August and September payrolls were revised up by a combined 84,000, with September now showing a 60,000 gain instead of 29,000.

Professional and business services led with 70,000 jobs. Healthcare added 42,000 jobs. Transportation and warehousing added 25,000. Manufacturing added 19,000.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% to $38 and were up 3.1% from a year earlier. The average workweek held at 34.4 hours.

The household survey showed some signs of weakness. The number of people working part time for economic reasons rose by 339,000 to 4.8 million. Those workers wanted full-time jobs but had their hours cut or could not find full-time work. Labor force participation changed little at 61.9%.

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Bureau of Labor Statistics

About Joe Palmisano

Joe Palmisano is editorial director of Connect Money, where he oversees daily coverage of alternative assets, direct investments, financial advisory and the economy. He brings three decades of experience as a financial journalist, analyst and portfolio manager. Before joining Connect Money, Palmisano wrote for The Wall Street Journal, covering foreign exchange, global fixed-income and equity markets. He later served as a senior research analyst and portfolio manager, producing market analysis and managing foreign exchange and U.S. equity portfolios for FX Concepts. His work has also appeared in SFO Magazine and CMT Association publications. Palmisano earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from The American University and holds the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute.

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