American economy adds a meager 12,000 jobs in October

The Labor Department reported that U.S. employers hired much fewer workers in October compared to recent months. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained relatively unchanged at slightly more than 4 percent, the department said.

How many jobs did employers add in recent months? In September, U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs, the Labor Department said. In August, they hired roughly 159,000 workers, slightly more than in July, according to the department’s latest numbers for July.

Did officials have any interpretation of the drop in jobs? The Labor Department noted that it was the first employment report since hurricanes Helene and Milton ravaged the Southeast United States. It is likely that the hurricanes affected the number of people hired in some industries, the department wrote in its report. However, the employment survey couldn’t quantify the hurricanes’ net effect on national employment numbers. Manufacturing employment decreased by 46,000 jobs in October in part due to strike activity in transportation equipment manufacturing, according to the report.

Dig deeper: Read David Bahnsen’s column in WORLD Opinions about what this jobs report means for the election.