U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, a hiring pace that beat every forecast and came with sharp upward revisions to the prior two months.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 165,000 in October, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.1 percent, the bureau said in its Employment Situation report, released November 6. The job gain was more than three times the average monthly increase of 48,000 recorded over the previous 12 months, and it topped the 65,000 gain economists polled by Reuters had expected.
The bureau also revised its earlier estimates higher. August's payroll gain was raised to 186,000 from 133,000, and September's to 60,000 from 29,000 — a combined upward revision of 84,000 jobs. The unemployment rate, at 4.1 percent, was down from 4.2 percent in September, with 7.1 million people unemployed.
Hiring was broad. Professional and business services added 70,000 jobs, health care added 42,000, and transportation and warehousing added 25,000. Manufacturing rose by 19,000. Average hourly earnings on private nonfarm payrolls rose 0.4 percent for the month to $38.00, and 3.1 percent from a year earlier. The number of people working part time for economic reasons rose by 339,000 to 4.8 million.
The stronger-than-expected report shifted market expectations for the Federal Reserve's next move. Traders raised the odds of a rate increase at the Fed's December meeting to about 78 percent, from roughly 67 percent before the release, according to market pricing. Federal Reserve officials will see one more jobs report and a full slate of inflation data before that meeting, and the bureau is scheduled to release October consumer price data on Tuesday.
