The U.S. economy added 128,000 jobs in October, beating expectations and alleviating concerns that multiple headwinds would take a toll on employment growth. In its monthly jobs report released Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also reported that unemployment last month remained largely unchanged at 3.6 percent or 5.9 million people.
With enduring trade tensions and a major nationwide auto strike last month, analysts were expecting just 89,000 jobs to be added in October. Monthly employment growth so far this year now averages 167,000, which remains below 223,000 average monthly gains in 2018.
Industries with the greatest gains included food services and drinking places and social assistance, which 48,000 and 20,000 jobs respectively. The BLS also said Friday that a combined 95,000 more jobs were added in August and September than was previously reported.
President Donald Trump lauded the figures on Twitter Friday morning, saying that the jobs number was "a blowout" and that "USA ROCKS!"
Average hourly earnings for all private-sector, nonfarm workers in October increased by $0.06, a jump from the $0.01 decrease that was recorded in September. Over the past year, the BLS said, average hourly wages have grown by 3 percent.
"The October jobs report came in relatively strong, especially since it included significant but temporary job losses from the recently resolved GM/UAW strike," Doug Duncan, the chief economist at Fannie Mae, said in a statement. The United Auto Workers strike against General Motors, which ended last week after 40 days, was reflected in the jobs report, said the BLS, which recorded a decline of 42,000 jobs in the auto industry last month.
The strong jobs report, however, was partly overshadowed by another report released Friday by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), which showed that U.S. manufacturing continued to contract in October — its third consecutive month of decline. ISM first reported a manufacturing contraction in August, which ended 35 straight months of growth in the sector and sparked widespread concerns of a worldwide slowdown.
"Global trade remains the most significant cross-industry issue," Timothy R. Fiore, chair of ISM's manufacturing business survey committee, said in a statement. "Overall, sentiment this month remains cautious regarding near-term growth."
The BLS also reported Friday that general manufacturing employment fell by 36,000 jobs in October.
Both the BLS and ISM reports come just days after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates to spur and sustain economic growth. The quarter-of-a-point cut was the central bank's third slashing this year.
"Weakness in global growth and trade developments have weighed on the economy and pose ongoing risks," said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in a press conference Wednesday. "These factors in conjunction with muted inflation pressures have led us to lower our assessment of the appropriate level of the federal funds rate over the past year."
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down the agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought is the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama created it following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
