The economy added 531,000 new jobs in October, more than expected.
The unemployment rate decreased to 4.6%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The new rate marks the lowest level since March of last year, right as the pandemic began to take hold and restrictions went into effect.
Friday’s report also showed that the previous two months’ jobs growth was not as bad as previously thought, revising up the combined estimated gains by 235,000.
In October, the economy saw notable job gains in leisure and hospitality, in professional and business services, in manufacturing, and in transportation and warehousing, according to the bureau.
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“The October employment report is broadly positive, including a decline in the unemployment rate and a recovery for payrolls growth. Along with the solid payrolls number, there were upward revisions for August and September, which were initially disappointing,” said Mark Hamrick, Bankrate’s senior economic analyst.
Despite the gains, the United States is still some 4.2 million jobs short from February of last year, the first month before the pandemic began to take hold.
The U.S. has been working to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, which suddenly reversed course and grew worse with the delta variant this summer. Since peaking in September, new cases and deaths have been on the decline, an encouraging sign for the country’s economic recovery.
While there were bold predictions for economic growth at the start of the year when vaccines were just being rolled out, the delta variant put a damper on commerce, and forecasters ended up paring back gross domestic product projections for the year.
Too-high inflation has also been troubling for the economy. Prices have soared across the U.S. as supply can’t keep pace with demand, and the economy has been infused with mass amounts of federal spending.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell maintains that the high inflation rate will prove transitory rather than rising out of the central bank’s control. Still, the Fed took the first step this week toward raising interest rates by saying that it would reduce its monthly purchases of government bonds.
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Friday’s news comes a day after the most recent jobless claims report that found new applications for unemployment benefits fell 14,000 last week to 269,000 — the lowest number since the start of the pandemic and a reassuring sign for U.S. economic recovery.
