WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. economy added 531,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate dropped by 20 basis points to 4.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday. These figures are better than what economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected with an increase of only 450,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.7 percent, according to CNBC.
October’s unemployment numbers are much improved from September, which had total job gains that were revised upward from 194,000 to 312,000. October’s numbers outgained August as well, which had job gains revised up from 235,000 to 483,000. Since the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020, nonfarm employment has risen by 18.2 million but remains down by 4.2 million from its level before the pandemic started, according to the BLS.
The highest job gains in October were in the leisure and hospitality sectors with 164,000 jobs added. In the year 2021, leisure and hospitality regained 2.4 million job positions lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the gains in employment, the sector is still down by 1.4 million jobs, or 8.2 percent, from Feb. 2020.
The second highest job gains for the month were in professional and business services, which added 100,000 jobs, including a rise of 41,000 jobs in temporary help services. Management and technical consulting services saw a rise of 14,000 jobs. The sector still has 215,000 fewer jobs than what it had pre-pandemic.
Other notable job gains for the month include manufacturing with an increase of 60,000 jobs, transportation and warehousing with 54,000 jobs (which also is 149,000 above what it was Feb. 2020), construction with 44,000 jobs and healthcare with 37,000 jobs. For the healthcare industry, there was the biggest gain in home healthcare services with an increase of 16,000 jobs and nursing care facilities with 12,000 more jobs.
Employment decreased in local government and state government education with a decline of 43,000 to 22,000 jobs, respectively. Private education employment changed little with a gain of 17,000.