The U.S. Labor
Department reported on Friday that nonfarm payrolls increased by 12,000 in October
after a downwardly revised 223,000 increase (from 254,000) in September. The October
reading marked the
weakest monthly gain since a contraction in December 2020 (-243,000).
According to
the report, employment continued to rise in health care (+52,000) and
government (+40,000), while employment in manufacturing (-46,000) declined due
to strike activity.
The
unemployment rate, however, was unchanged at
4.1 per cent in October.
Economists had anticipated
the nonfarm payrolls to grow by 113,000 and the jobless rate to hold steady at 4.1 per cent.
The labour
force participation rate slipped 62.6 per cent in October from an unrevised 62.7 per cent in the previous month, while
hourly earnings for private-sector workers jumped by 0.4 per cent m-o-m (or
$0.13) to $35.46, following
a downwardly revised
0.3 per cent m-o-m climb (from +0.4 per cent m-o-m) in September. Economists had predicted
the average hourly earnings to grow by 0.3 per cent m-o-m in October.
Over the
year, the average hourly earnings soared 4.0 per cent in October, following a downwardly revised 3.9 per cent surge (from +4.0 per cent) in the previous month. This represented the strongest annual advance
since May (+4.0 per cent). Economists had foreseen the annual wage to increase by 4.0 per cent in October.
The
average workweek was unchanged at 34.3 hours last month, slightly
above economists' forecast
of 34.2 hours.