The U.S. labor market showed signs of cooling in October, with nonfarm payroll employment remaining essentially flat, adding just 12,000 jobs, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, unchanged from the previous month but higher than the 3.8% recorded a year ago.
The tepid job growth was primarily driven by continued expansion in the healthcare and government sectors, while temporary help services experienced job losses. Manufacturing employment declined, largely due to strike activity.
Despite the overall stagnation, the labor market continues to show resilience in some areas. The labor force participation rate remained steady at 62.6%, while the employment-population ratio held at 60.0%. Both measures have shown little change over the past year.
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READ: US Nonfarm Payroll Jumps By 336,000 Jobs In September
However, there are signs of underlying weakness. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) edged up to 1.6 million, an increase from 1.3 million a year earlier. Additionally, the number of people employed part-time for economic reasons remained elevated at 4.6 million.
The report also revealed significant downward revisions to previous months’ data. August’s job gains were revised down by 81,000 to 78,000, while September’s were reduced by 31,000 to 223,000. These revisions suggest that the labor market may have been weaker than initially reported in late summer and early fall.
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