Nov. 1 (UPI) — U.S. job growth for October fell far below Wall Street’s expectations amid impacts from hurricanes in the Southeast and Boeing’s machinists strike, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The monthly employment summary showed that nonfarm payrolls increased by 12,000 in October from the previous month, while unemployment was unchanged at 4.1%.
The total of jobs added was a fraction of the 100,000 jobs Dow Jones economists had predicted would be added for the month.
One of the report’s caveats comes with the ongoing Boeing machinists strike, which has lasted for more than a month. BLS said the striking 44,000 workers account for nearly all of the 46,000 in job losses in the manufacturing sector.
Then the report pointed to the storms that affected the Southeast during October.
“October data from the household and establishment surveys are the first collected since hurricanes Helene and Milton struck the United States,” the Labor Department said. “These hurricanes caused severe damage to the southeast portion of the country.
“It is likely that payroll employment estimates in some industries were affected by the hurricanes, however, it is not possible to quantify the net effect on the over-the-month change in national employment, hours, or earnings estimates because the establishment survey is not designed to isolate effects from extreme weather events.”
The report said the August Labor Department job figure was revised down by 81,000 to a net job creation of 78,000 and September’s figure also was revised down by 31,000 to gain of 223,000 jobs.
“With these revisions, employment in August and September combined is 112,000 lower than previously reported,” the Labor Department said.
Private education and health services saw the biggest job creation in October, adding 57,000 jobs while healthcare and social assistance gained 51,300 jobs. Both sectors, however, were down from September figures.
Along with manufacturing, the biggest job shrinkage happened in professional and business services, which was down 47,000 jobs, while all good-producing jobs saw a loss of 37,000 jobs.
The Labor Department figure stands in contrast with the ADP private business report released on Wednesday, which showed that private nonfarm jobs increased by 233,000 in October.
