US hiring rebounded in October, with 531,000 jobs added
Image via AP.

hiring
The economy’s emergence from the pandemic, by most measures, remains on course.

America’s employers stepped up their hiring in October, adding a solid 531,000 jobs, the most since July and a sign that the recovery from the pandemic recession is overcoming a virus-induced slowdown.

Friday’s report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate fell to 4.6% last month, from 4.8% in September. That is a comparatively low level but still well above the pre-pandemic jobless rate of 3.5%.

The economy’s emergence from the pandemic, by most measures, remains on course. Services companies in such areas as retail, banking and warehousing have reported a sharp jump in sales. More Americans bought new homes last month. And consumer confidence rose in October.

Still, the recovery would gain strength from a sustained acceleration in hiring. The economy grew at a healthy 6.5% annual rate in the first half of the year as vaccinations spread and Americans showed themselves more willing to travel, shop, eat out and attend entertainment events. Yet the delta variant held economic growth in the July-September quarter to just a 2% annual rate and slowed hiring.

Friday’s report showed not only that employers accelerated their hiring in October but also that the job gains in August and September weren’t as weak as initially reported. The government revised its estimate of hiring for those two months by a combined 235,000 jobs,

Last month, hiring was spread across nearly every major industry, with only government employers reporting a job loss. Shipping and warehousing companies posted a gain of 54,000 jobs. Retailers added 35,000. The battered leisure and hospitality sector, which includes, restaurants, bars, hotels and entertainment venues, gained 164,000 jobs.

And employers, who have been competing to fill jobs from a diminished pool of applicants, raised wages at a solid clip: Average hourly pay jumped 4.9% in October compared with a year earlier. Yet even a gain that strong is barely keeping pace with recent surges in consumer price inflation.

Recent economic gauges have cast a hopeful picture. After several rounds of stimulus checks and other government support payments, Americans as a whole have amassed about $2.5 trillion more in savings than they had before the pandemic. As that money is spent, it will likely fuel further economic activity.

The Conference Board, a business research group, said that in its October consumer confidence survey, the proportion of Americans who said they planned to buy cars, homes or major appliances all rose. And nearly half the survey respondents said they planned to vacation in the next six months — the highest such proportion since February 2020, before COVID-19 ripped through the economy.

Yet some companies say they still can’t find enough workers to fill jobs. Many parents, particularly mothers, haven’t returned to the workforce after having left jobs during the pandemic to care for children or other relatives. Defying the predictions of some, the expiration of a $300-a-week federal unemployment supplement hasn’t caused more people to look for work. Roughly 5 million fewer people have jobs now than did before the pandemic.

Most economists say they’re hopeful that with vaccinations helping to suppress the delta wave, more people will seek and find jobs because they’re no longer sick or caring for someone who is or because they no longer fear becoming infected. Those health issues had sidelined more people in September than in previous months.

The draw of higher income could entice more people to come off the sidelines and look for work again. Wages and salaries in the July-September quarter, compared with a year earlier, jumped by the most in 20 years. Most of that gain, though, went to already employed people who left their jobs: The number of people who quit, mostly to take new positions, has reached a record high.

Rising inflation, though, has eroded much of the value of those pay increases and has become the most serious headwind for the U.S. economy. Higher costs for food, heating oil, rents and furniture have burdened millions of families. Prices rose 4.4% in September compared with 12 months earlier, the sharpest such increase in three decades.

That inflation surge was a key reason why the Federal Reserve announced this week that it would begin winding down the stimulus it has given the economy since the pandemic recession struck last year. The Fed will do so by reducing its monthly bond purchases, which have been intended to hold down long-term interest rates to spur borrowing and spending.

Chair Jerome Powell suggested that it won’t be possible to gain a clear picture of the job market’s health until the impact of COVID-19 declines further, which could take months.

Yet in the meantime, there are plenty of signs that the economy is healing: The number of people applying for first-time unemployment benefits fell for a fifth straight week, to a level nearly as low as the pace of jobless claims before the pandemic struck 20 months ago.

And while hiring has slowed for now, consumers as a whole have solid financial cushions. After several rounds of stimulus checks and other government support payments, Americans overall have amassed about $2.5 trillion more in savings than they had before the pandemic. As that money is spent, it will likely fuel further economic activity.

Reposted with permission from the Associated Press.

Associated Press


5 comments

  • Alex

    November 5, 2021 at 10:48 am

    Bad news for the “let’s go brandon” children.

    Lol

  • Tom

    November 5, 2021 at 11:07 am

    Hardly, I mean Omar Hardy, what a loser!
    Two fer, he got beaten and out of legislature.
    Liar on 60 mints, lied on Covid and America’s great Gov DeSantis. What a patriot DeSantis is.

    Alex the socialist, We are not recapturing loss of employees. We lost 100,000 last month, gained back 100,000 this month. We have over 10 million jobs avail. Oner 6 million not working.
    It’s a helpful 1/2 step forward but the job numbers are just ok, n

    Paying parents $350 to $300 individual a month for each child is not helping. Furthermore, paying parents jointly up to $170,000 in earnings is disgraceful. They are not poor.

    Alex, I was hoping you were on new treatment.
    Apparently not.

    Where are all your Manchurians. Weasel peter h got smacked with the predator Lincoln Org.

    • Ocean Joe

      November 10, 2021 at 8:49 am

      Good morning Tom, just as Biden has to own the current state of affairs, whether he caused them or not, an old fogey like yourself would have to agree that under the prior administration we witnessed the largest spike in unemployment since the Great Depression. Since the country is much bigger now, actually higher. Look it up. Food lines all across the country. 600,000 deaths. Fighting over medical supplies, and stupid stuff like ‘runs’ on toilet paper, pardon the pun. So we are coming back from a deep morass and who put the country there? And now, despite 19 Republican senators voting for it, and 13 GOP in the House, Trump is again crying like a baby because Biden accomplished what he could not. And on come the death threats (Fred Upton) to the 13, by the neanderthals you share a political bed with. Had Trump treated covid as more important than his own political standing he would have had a second term, but like any good narcissist he sat back and catered to the anti-vax crowd, and Fox who started off calling covid a hoax, etc. Instead of leadership when we needed it most, we got a divisive backstabber undermining his own medical experts until he could find a radiologist who was willing to parrot his nonsense, kind of like Desantis and his Dr. Ladapo.
      Enjoy the new highways and bridges coming your way despite all of Florida’s Republican congressmen and senators voting against it and then taking credit for it. More broadband, just think, more access to far right media for those folks out in the sticks. Best of all: more jobs.

  • DIANNA DAVIS

    November 5, 2021 at 11:34 am

    That’s the propaganda spin
    He never said that
    That never happened
    Fake News
    I lost many friends when AA flew into the twin towers
    AND it wuz not bcz terrorist boarded the plane
    Contaminated Products Columbia Distribution USA
    EU K 2 Y ONE Organized Mafia Government OMG
    Boeing International Investigation
    American Airlines Planes catching fire while parked on runways
    Neiman Marcus making FLAMMABLE clothing Carter’s Children’s clothing flammable burns children while sleeping in bed
    FIRE STONE automotive servicing vehicles caught fire while parked in GARAGE

    • Tom

      November 5, 2021 at 11:48 am

      Mental reply. Get Alex’s doc.
      Yez he did accuse gov on Covid.
      Cheap shot extremist.

Comments are closed.


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