WASHINGTON: The United States added 171,000 jobs in October, far more than expected, while the unemployment rate edged up to 7.9 percent, the government reported yesterday just days ahead of the presidential election.
The encouraging jobs report provided a final snapshot of a slowly improving economy as President Barack Obama battles for re-election next Tuesday in a neck-and-neck race against Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The muddling economy and high unemployment are uppermost on Americans’ minds as they head to the polls.
The unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent, after a surprising three-point drop to 7.8 percent in September, the same level when Obama took office in January 2009, as the workforce registered a 578,000 rise. Most analysts had forecast the higher jobless rate, but job growth far outpaced their consensus estimate of 125,000.
The effects of Hurricane Sandy, the deadly storm that ravaged the eastern seaboard on Monday and Tuesday, were not reflected in the jobs report, calculated on surveys of businesses and households in mid-month The Labour Department’s sharp revisions to previous months numbers showed a substantial improvement in job growth since mid-2012.
The department raised its estimates for August and September net new jobs by 33 percent. A rolling three-month average suggests a job creation trend that is picking up pace: The US added 170,000 jobs per month in the August-October period, compared with 146,000 in the three months to September and 94,000 in the prior period.
The private sector again led the way with growth in professional and business services, health care and the retail sector. A net 184,000 private-sector jobs were added in October, a jump of 44 percent from September and the best growth since February, while governments pared 13,000. The struggling manufacturing sector gained 13,000 jobs.
“The president’s election strategists will have something to cheer about in the final four days of the campaign,” said Sal Guatieri at BMO Capital Markets. “Job growth improved meaningfully in October, though a jump in labour force participation lifted the unemployment rate slightly. This suggests the economy is gathering a little momentum, and that GDP growth will improve further in Q4 from the 2.0 percent pace of Q3.”
Afp
