Despite GM strike, 128,000 jobs added
The national unemployment rate ticked upward to 3.6%, as total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 128,000 in October, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The job growth was lower than normal, but higher than expected as a layoff-invoking General Motors strike weighed on October jobs. Manufacturing employment decreased by 36,000 in October. Employment in motor vehicles and parts declined by 42,000, reflecting strike activity. Also, some 17,000 temporary census bureau workers completed their work and are out of those jobs.
But the higher-than-expected number of new jobs surpassed expectations, prompting a presidential tweet:
Wall Street reacted positively to the jobs report.
Construction industry employment showed little change in October. Along with construction, there was little change in these other major industries: mining, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, and information.
(Read the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics release here.)
Meanwhile, the bureau revised upward its September estimate of new jobs to 180,000, up from the originally reported 136,000.
In September, the unemployment rate of 3.5% was the lowest in half a century.
The job growth was lower than normal, but higher than expected as a layoff-invoking General Motors strike weighed on October jobs. Manufacturing employment decreased by 36,000 in October. Employment in motor vehicles and parts declined by 42,000, reflecting strike activity. Also, some 17,000 temporary census bureau workers completed their work and are out of those jobs.
But the higher-than-expected number of new jobs surpassed expectations, prompting a presidential tweet:
Wall Street reacted positively to the jobs report.
Construction industry employment showed little change in October. Along with construction, there was little change in these other major industries: mining, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, and information.
(Read the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics release here.)
Meanwhile, the bureau revised upward its September estimate of new jobs to 180,000, up from the originally reported 136,000.
In September, the unemployment rate of 3.5% was the lowest in half a century.