Hiring beat forecasts in October, but 4.8 million people still can't get full-time hours.
Part-time work for economic reasons jumped by 339,000 as long-term unemployment hit a five-year high.
Employers added 165,000 jobs in October, nearly triple the 59,000 economists expected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1% from 4.2%.
But the paycheck numbers tell a tougher story. Average hourly pay rose to $38.00, up 3.1% from a year ago. Prices rose 3.7% over the year in September, the latest consumer price data available. October's inflation report comes out Nov. 10. Until wages beat prices, a typical raise still buys less than it did last year. That fits the pattern in our report on how paychecks fell behind prices again last quarter.
Where the jobs went
Professional and business services added 70,000 jobs, health care added 42,000, transportation and warehousing added 25,000, and manufacturing added 19,000. Leisure and hospitality lost 13,000 jobs and construction lost 3,000. The bureau also revised August and September up by a combined 84,000 jobs.
CNBC reported that hiring spread across more industries than in recent months, when health care drove most of the gains. Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, told CNBC the report is "a strong rebuttal to fears that the economy is heading into a meaningful slowdown."
Who's still stuck
The number of people working part time because they couldn't get full-time hours jumped by 339,000 to 4.8 million. A broader jobless measure that counts those workers and people who have given up looking rose to 7.9%.
About 2 million people have been out of work for more than six months, more than a quarter of everyone unemployed. The average stretch of unemployment hit 27.1 weeks, the longest since September 2021, according to CNBC.
What comes next
Strong hiring with prices still running hot raises the odds of an interest rate hike. Traders put the chance of a quarter-point increase at the Federal Reserve's Dec. 8-9 meeting at 76.8%, CNBC reported, citing CME FedWatch. A hike would make car loans, credit card balances and mortgages more expensive for workers already squeezed by prices.
If you're job hunting, the market is opening up in more fields. If you have a job, inflation is still eating your raise, and that's worth raising at your next review.
Sources
- Employment Situation, October 2026, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Consumer Price Index, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Jobs report October 2026, CNBC
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