WASHINGTON (AP) — Three days after voters registered their sourness about the U.S. economy, the government said Friday that employers added a solid 214,000 jobs in October, extending the healthiest pace of hiring in eight years.
The Labor Department also said 31,000 more jobs were added in August and September than it had previously estimated. Employers have now added at least 200,000 jobs for nine straight months, the longest such stretch since 1995.
The burst of hiring lowered the unemployment rate to 5.8 percent from 5.9 percent. It is the lowest rate since July 2008.
Along with the job gains, economic growth has accelerated this year. Yet despite the improvement, voters identified economic anxiety as their top concern in Tuesday’s elections. That suggests the improvement hasn’t yet been felt by many Americans.
Nearly 60 percent of voters said they thought the economy was stagnating or worsening. Only one-third saw it as improving.
But the picture has brightened enough that the Federal Reserve announced last month that it was ending its bond purchase program, which had been intended to lower interest rates and stimulate economic growth.
One likely reason for voters’ concern is that paychecks are still rising at sluggish pace. Average hourly pay rose 3 cents in October to $24.57. That’s just 2 percent higher than it was 12 months earlier, only slightly ahead of the 1.7 percent inflation rate.
And what wage gains have occurred have benefited mainly the wealthy. Average income grew 10 percent from 2010 through 2013 for the wealthiest one-tenth of Americans, after adjusting for inflation, according to the Fed. For everyone else, incomes stagnated or declined.
Still, the job market’s improvement prompted more Americans to start looking for work last month. The percentage of Americans with jobs or looking for one ticked up in October to 62.8 percent. And 267,000 of those out of work were hired, lowering the unemployed population to just under 9 million.
The job gains were broad-based, though many lower-paying industries posted large increases. Retailers added 27,100 jobs, while restaurants, hotels and entertainment firms gained 52,000.
Some higher-paying industries also showed progress. Manufacturers added 15,000 jobs, up from 9,000 the previous month. Transportation and shipping companies gained 13,300. And professional and business services, which includes accountants, engineers and other higher-skilled fields, added 37,000.
Analysts say the economic expansion remains strong enough to support the current pace of hiring. Over the past six months, the economy has grown at a 4.1 percent annual rate.
U.S. manufacturers are expanding at the fastest pace in three years, according to a survey by the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group. A measure of new orders showed that factory output will likely continue to grow in coming months. A separate survey by the ISM found that retailers, restaurants and other service companies grew at a healthy pace last month.
Home sales rose in September at their fastest rate this year, a sign that housing could pick up after a sluggish performance for most of this year.
Still, faltering global growth could create trouble for the U.S. economy in the months ahead. Exports fell in September, the government said this week, widening the trade deficit. That led many economists to shave their predictions of economic growth in the July-September quarter to an annual rate of 3 percent or less, down from the government’s initial estimate of 3.5 percent.
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Contact Chris Rugaber at http://Twitter.com/ChrisRugaber .
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Total US private-sector jobs:
.
-Obama enters office: …111,397,000
-Now: …117,766,000
(Net under Obama: …+6,369,000 gained)
.
-Bush enters office: …111,859,000
-Bush leaves office: …111,397,000
(Net under Bush: …-462,000 lost)
.
See for yourself: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000001
Unemployment rate:
.
-Obama enters office: …7.8%
-Now: …5.8%
-Reagan enters office: …7.5%
-This point in Reagan’s term: …6.9%
.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
214,000 new jobs this month plus 31,000 in upward revisions from August ad September. That’s a total of 245,000 new jobs. Add to that the fact that wages rose an average of 3¢ an hour (to $24.57 an hour) and the average workweek increased .1 hours (to 34.6 hours) so no one can argue that these were all part time minimum wage jobs.
What’s more, it isn’t just the official unemployment rate that’s dropping. All measures of labor underutlization (U6) has been declining steadily. The economy is improving and has been improving for years. Few can deny this though some will try anyway.
Wingnuts everywhere: These numbers have been faked by the government to make Obama look good. Also, if at any point in the next two-years unemployment starts rising, it will only because the numbers have been faked by the government to make Republicans in Congress look bad. Also, these numbers are purely coincidental and have nothing to do with Obama, but if these numbers continue they totally prove that the Republicans in Congress are awesome. In conclusion, truthiness.
They’re “faked” to the extent that the published rate does not reflect those who have dropped out of the job mkt.
Also does not show wage stagnation,
Objective measures of improvements in the economy just aren’t seen and certainly are not felt by the average family. They’re not felt by college grads who can’t find work, nor by families just getting by with multiple minimum wage jobs.
This was a major factor in the defeat of the Dems.
Yes, it is the economy, the economy, the economy.