Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 271,000 in October, an increase from the previous month’s total of 137,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell from 5.1 to 5.0 percent, the lower-end of the Federal Reserve’s full employment estimate of 5.0 to 5.2 percent.
The majority of gains occurred in professional and business services, which added 78,000 jobs, up from 33,000 in September. Health care and social assistance followed with 56,700 jobs added, up from 47,100 in September. Over the past year, the health care sector has added 495,000 jobs.
Goods producing industries added 27,000 jobs, after declining the past two months, as the construction sector grew by 31,000. Growth was partially offset by the mining and logging and durable goods manufacturing sectors, which shed 4,000 and 3,000 jobs.
The civilian labor force participation rate held steady at 62.4 percent. The number of long-term unemployed, those jobless for 27 weeks or more was also unchanged at 2.1 million.
The number of discouraged workers, those not looking for work because they believe no jobs are available, was 665,000, little changed from a year ago.
Average hourly earnings rose 9 cents to $25.20. Year-over-year, hourly earnings have grown 2.5 percent.
Read the BLS release.
