A mere 12,000 jobs were added in October – falling far short of expectations – while the previously-reported rosy numbers for August and September were revised downward by more than a hundred thousand, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday.

Some analysts had expected the economy would add more than a hundred thousand jobs to total nonfarm payroll employment. Average job growth over the prior 12 months was 194,000 – more than 16 times higher than October’s total. October’s job growth was the lowest monthly total in nearly four years (December 2020), when the COVID pandemic ravaged the economy.

Meanwhile, BLS reports that it overestimated total job growth the previous two months by a combined total 112,000, casting further doubt about the reliability of BLS’s numbers.

August’s job growth was actually less than half than the number BLS previously reported and was lowered by 81,000 (from +159,000 to +78,000) while the increase for September was revised down by 31,000 (+254,000 to +223,000).

The number of permanent job losers rose from 1,7 million to 1.8 million. The number of long-term unemployed (27+ weeks) remained at 1.6 million, accounting for more than one in five (22.9%) unemployed people and up from 1.3 million a year earlier.

While total job growth was stagnant in October, the health care and government sectors continued to expand:

Manufacturing employment decreased by 46,000 in October, reflecting a decline of 44,000 in transportation equipment manufacturing, which the BLS attributes to strike activity. Retail trade employment held at 15.7 million, while wholesale trade jobs remained at 6.2 million.

October’s 4.1 percent unemployment rate was unchanged from September’s rate, but up from 3.6 percent a year earlier (October 2023).

BLS reported that cannot isolate the effects hurricanes Helene and Milton had on employment:

“It is likely that payroll employment estimates in some industries were affected by the hurricanes; however, it is not possible to quantify the net effect on the over-the-month change in national employment, hours, or earnings estimates because the establishment survey is not designed to isolate effects from extreme weather events. There was no discernible effect on the national unemployment rate from the household survey.”

The business and economic reporting of CNSNews is funded in part with a gift made in memory of Dr. Keith C. Wold.