The job market cooled in October, with employers adding 150,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate grew slightly to 3.9 percent from 3.8 percent in September.
The growth in jobs was just more than 100,000 off the monthly rate in the past year of 258,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In September, the economy had added 336,000 jobs.
“In October, job gains occurred in health care, government and social assistance. Employment in manufacturing declined due to strike activity,” reported the BLS.
Healthcare added 58,000 jobs. Government employment was up 51,000. Construction saw an increase of 23,000 jobs.
With the United Auto Workers strike and layoffs, manufacturing employment was down 35,000.
BLS reported it “reflected a decline of 33,000 in motor vehicles and parts that was largely due to strike activity.”
The new jobs report followed the Federal Reserve electing to pause interest rate hikes. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell noted the job market remains stable in spite of inflation at 3.4 percent and higher interest rates.
“Strong job creation has been accompanied by an increase in the supply of workers,” Powell said. “The labor force participation rate has moved up since late last year, particularly for individuals aged 25 to 54 years, and immigration has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Nominal wage growth has shown some signs of easing, and job vacancies have declined so far this year. Although the jobs-to-workers gap has narrowed, labor demand still exceeds the supply of available workers.”
The labor participation rate in October was a 62.7 percent.
The average hourly pay increased by 7 cents to $34. Pay has increased by 4.1 percent in the past year.
The average workweek did decline by 0.1 hours to 34.3 hours.
