Macro
US employers add 165,000 jobs in October; unemployment holds at 4.1%
The Labor Department also revised August and September payrolls up by a combined 84,000.
HedgeWeekly News Desk ·
US employers added 165,000 jobs in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday, and the unemployment rate stood at 4.1%, with 7.1 million people out of work. Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose 14 cents, or 0.4%, to $38.00, a 3.1% gain from a year earlier.
Hiring was led by professional and business services, which added 70,000 positions. Health care contributed 42,000, transportation and warehousing 25,000 and manufacturing 19,000. The bureau reported little change in construction, retail, information, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and government.
The agency also revised earlier months higher. August payrolls now show a gain of 186,000, up from 133,000, and September shows 60,000, up from 29,000. Together the two months are 84,000 stronger than first reported. The labor force participation rate was 61.9%, little changed since January, and the number of people working part time for economic reasons rose by 339,000 to 4.8 million.
For investors and allocators, the report points to a labor market that is cooling only slowly. The jobless rate has stayed between 4.1% and 4.3% since March, and the upward revisions soften the weak September print. Wage growth of 3.1% a year and a rise in involuntary part-time work are the details to track in the next releases, since they show whether income growth and underemployment are moving in opposite directions.