After the shocking number of job creation in September, the United States labor market slowed down last October, it cooled in a very contrasting way by registering an increase of 150,000 jobs, below forecasts, which marked a minimum of 170,000 additions .
Furthermore, the unemployment rate rises to 3.9%, when forecasts indicated that it would remain at 3.8%. This index has been below 4% for 21 consecutive months. The rebound came after a drop in labor force participation, down 0.2%, an unwelcome sign for job supply.
The stock market reacted upward, in another demonstration of the worse the better for investors. At the outset, the Dow Jones gained 162 points, 0.5%, in line with the S
This increase in employment, after a harsh restrictive policy by the Federal Reserve (Fed) with increases in interest rates, is on par with the monthly gains experienced in the pre-pandemic period. The data for September and August were revised downwards, which represents a decline of 101,000 jobs together compared to what was announced at the time. September's record number has gone from 336,000 to 297,000
This same Wednesday, at a press conference, the president of the Fed, Jerome Powell, expressed the perplexity of the US central bank about the resilience of the labor market, although when announcing another pause in interest rates he assured that they detected signs of decline in its force slowly. But he stressed that, if it did not lose even more steam, they could see the need to apply a new increase in the price of money, which is at 5.25%-5.50%, the highest level in 22 years after eleven increases since March 2022.
Hourly pay gained 0.2% last month, instead of the 0.3% predicted. This brings the annualized total to 4.1%, below the 4.3% in September, another reflection of the deceleration, although it is above inflation, which is produced by the increase in the cost of conditions for apply for loans.
Despite everything, October represents the 34th month of the job creation streak. Their numbers have also gone down, analysts point out, due to the impact of the strikes in various sectors, especially the one promoted by the Detroit automobile workers union (Ford, General Motors and Stellantis) that ended this week at principles of agreement be reached in the three companies.
The manufacturing sector, which lost 35,000 jobs, was not the only evidence of the impact of the strikes on labor activity. Jobs in the film industry, affected by the actors' strike, lost 5,000 jobs in October, which puts the total at 44,000 since May, when the scriptwriters began the protest, a dispute now closed in their case.
The largest increase in employment in October occurred in the health sector, adding 77,000 jobs.
