Economy adds 638K jobs in October, unemployment dips below 7 percent | TheHill
By: Sylvan Lane (TheHill)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The U.S added 638,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 6.9 percent in October, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.
The October jobs report showed the U.S. continuing to recover jobs lost to the coronavirus pandemic and slightly exceeded economists' projections. Economists had expected the U.S. to gain roughly 600,000 jobs in October after adding 661,000 in September and seeing the unemployment rate fall to 7.9 percent.
October's decline in unemployment came as the labor force participation rate increased by 0.3 percentage points, meaning that a greater portion of Americans were both seeking and finding jobs last month than in September. The number of workers who permanently lost their jobs also stayed flat at 3.7 million, a welcome sign after several months of increases.
Even so, October marked the fifth straight month of slowing job gains since June. There are roughly 10 million of the more than 20 million jobs lost to the pandemic that have yet to be regained, and economists fear that steadily rising coronavirus cases could severely hinder the labor market recovery.
This developing report will be updated.
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