October’s jobs report beat expectations with the best jobs report since July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics…(BLS)
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 531,000 in October, a huge improvement from September’s initial report of 194k.
- The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage point to 4.6% which is 2.5 percentage points lower than a year ago.
BEAT THE STREET: Economists had projected a smaller gain of 450,000.
Private sector job growth jumped 604,000 which was the biggest number since July and was double was we saw last month.
- Leisure and hospitality led all sectors with an increase of 164,000 followed by professional & business services (+100,000), and education & health services (+64,000).
- Government employment continues to be a drag on the report with a loss of 73,000 jobs.
The participation rate was unchanged at 61.6% which falls within a narrow range of 61.4% to 61.7 % it has stayed between since June 2020.
- Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of persons marginally
attached to the labor force was little changed at 1.7 million in October
Average hourly and weekly earnings continued their upward trend in October…
- Hourly earnings were up 11 cents from September to $30.96 which is a 4.8% increase when compared to October 2020.
- Weekly earnings were up 73 cents from September to $1,07.31 which is a 4.6% increase when compared to October 2020.
Joseph Brusuelas, RSM US LLP Chief Economist, made an important point about the 4 million jobs still missing from the economy…
- “Exit of the boomers increased by 225k in October. That means 3.25 million have exited during the pandemic & represents 70% of the so-called missing workers. That requires a very different policy discussion than the one we are having.” (Twitter)
All in all this was a good report. Obviously you would always like to see a higher number especially with some more optimistic economists projecting a 800+ number. However, a 600k plus private number with 3.25 million retirements, 700k deaths, and probably a million women still out of the workforce is pretty damn good
