Economy: Employment Situation Report for October 2017

The Employment Situation Report for October 2017 was released by The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning:

Nonfarm Payrolls (month-to-month change)
Predicted: +325,000
Actual: +261,000

U-3 Unemployment Rate (Headline)
Predicted: 4.2%
Actual: 4.1%

U-6 Unemployment Rate*
Actual: 7.9%
Previous Month: 8.3%

Average Hourly Earnings (month-to-month change)
Predicted: +0.2%
Actual: -0.0377%

Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate: 62.7%
Previous Month: 63.1%

Average Workweek
Predicted: 34.4 hours
Actual: 34.4 hours

Economist, academics, central bankers and investors pay very close attention to the monthly Employment Situation report as it offers penetrating insight as to the current and near-future state of the overall U.S. economy. If a) Americans are earning more money and b) the economy is creating new jobs, this typically translates to more money being pumped into the economy (and vice versa.)

The "predicted" figure is what economists were expecting, while the "actual" is the true or real figure.

From today's report:

"...Employment in food services and drinking places increased sharply, mostly offsetting a decline in September that largely reflected the impact of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. In October, job gains also occurred in professional and business services, manufacturing, and health care..."

"...Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, at $26.53, were little changed in October (-1 cent) [-0.0377%], after rising by 12 cents in September. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 63 cents, or 2.4%. In October, average hourly earnings of private sector production and nonsupervisory employees, at $22.22, were little changed (-1 cent) [-0.045%].

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for August was revised up from +169,000 to +208,000, and the change for September was revised up from -33,000 to +18,000. With these revisions, employment was 90,000 higher than previously reported. (Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.) After revisions, job gains have averaged 162,000 over the last 3 months..." [Establishment Survey Data]

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* = The U-6 Unemployment Rate is defined as:

"Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force."