U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, a hiring surge that blew past economists' expectations and signaled a labor market far stronger than feared after a weak September.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected payrolls to rise by 65,000, while the Dow Jones estimate cited by CNBC was 59,000. The October gain was more than three times the average monthly increase of 48,000 recorded over the previous 12 months.
The unemployment rate edged down to 4.1 percent from 4.2 percent in September, and has remained in a narrow range of 4.1 to 4.3 percent since March. The number of unemployed people stood at 7.1 million, little changed from the previous month.
The report also revised the two prior months sharply higher. August payroll growth was raised from 133,000 to 186,000, and September's gain from 29,000 to 60,000 — adding another 84,000 jobs to earlier estimates.
Job growth was concentrated in professional and business services, which added 70,000 positions — well above its average monthly gain of 15,000 over the prior year. Health care added 42,000 jobs, and transportation and warehousing added 25,000, including 17,000 in couriers and messengers.
The labor force participation rate was 61.9 percent and the employment-population ratio was 59.3 percent, both little changed in October. The number of people working part time for economic reasons rose by 339,000 to 4.8 million. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release the November jobs report on December 4.
