Labor Department releases October jobs report

The Labor Department report said Friday that U.S. employers added roughly 261,000 jobs last month, down from September’s revised number of 315,000. The unemployment rate rose from a five-decade low of 3.5 percent to 3.7 percent, according to the same report. The number of unemployed people increased by more than 300,000 to a total of more than 6 million. The number of long-term unemployed people remained relatively even at around 1.2 million, according to the Labor Department.

What does this mean for the midterms? This is the last major report on the economy scheduled to be released before the midterm elections on Nov. 8. Inflation and high prices are key issues for many voters. But today’s report hinted that the job market might be cooling, if only gradually—which the Fed has been hoping to see. Over the past three months, hiring gains have averaged 289,000, down from a monthly rate of 539,000 a year ago.

Dig deeper: Read Esther Eaton’s report from the WORLD archives about how the monthly Child Tax Credit rolled out during the pandemic left some behind.