MNI BRIEF: US Hiring Just 12,000 In Oct, Skewed By Storms
MNI (WASHINGTON) - The U.S. economy created just 12,000 jobs in October, a number skewed by extreme weather and strikes and lower than analyst estimates, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday. The unemployment rate, measured by a survey of households rather than businesses and unaffected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the southeast U.S., was steady at 4.1%, the BLS said.
Fed officials are set to lower interest rates another 25 bps next week and have already flagged the potential for more than 100,000 jobs to be missing from this jobs report. Futures traders moved to fully price in the quarter point November cut and added another 18 bps of cuts to the end-2025 level, now at 3.55%, after Friday's report. (See: MNI POLICY: Bumpy US Data Won't Take Fed Off Steady Course)
Payrolls in the previous two months were also revised down by a total of 112,000, mostly in August. Average hourly earnings came in a tad stronger than expected at 0.368% in October and are up 3.988% over the past year. (See: MNI INTERVIEW: US Job Market Slowdown Reflects Slowing Growth)