October jobs report shows slower hiring in the wake of strikes, hurricanes

Employers added just 12,000 jobs in October as hiring slowed substantially. The total was expected to be constrained by two Southeast hurricanes and several worker strikes, but the tally was far lower than what was estimated and job gains for previous months were revised sharply downward, raising concerns about a weakening labor market.

The report provides a final portrait of the economy just days before next week’s historic election and key Federal Reserve meeting. But the temporary hurdles will likely make it challenging for Fed officials to get a reading of the labor market’s underlying health, economists said.

The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, the Labor Department said Friday.

Before the report was released, economists surveyed by Bloomberg estimated that 105,000 job gains were added in October.

Also worrisome: Payroll gains for August and September were revised down by a whopping 112,000. August's additions were downgraded from 159,000 to 78,000, and September's from 254,000 to 223,000.

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How did hurricanes affect the economy?

Hurricanes Helene and Milton likely reduced employment last month by about 70,000 in the Southeast, Oxford Economics estimated. Goldman Sachs expected a smaller impact of 40,000 to 50,000 jobs. Hurricane Helene hit Florida's Gulf Coast on Sept. 26, well before the Labor Department conducted its jobs survey, the agency noted, but Milton struck during the week of the survey.

Across the region, the number of businesses open, employees working and hours logged all fell by about 9%, according to Homebase, which makes employee scheduling software.

Meanwhile, an ongoing Boeing strike – along with smaller walkouts at Textron, an aerospace parts maker, and Hilton Hotels – likely suppressed payrolls by about 40,000, according to research firm Nomura.

All told, the storms and strikes probably shaved job gains by about 100,000, forecasters estimated.

There’s little doubt the hurricanes and strikes affected the paltry jobs tally. About 512,000 people said they were unable to work because of weather, compared to a historical average of 32,000, said economist Bradley Saunders of Capital Economics. And just 47% of companies surveyed responded, a 33-year low.

Still, he also cited a slowing labor market.

“The measly 12,000 gain in nonfarm payrolls was far weaker than both we and the consensus had expected,” Saunders said, adding it was “only partly due to disruptions caused by hurricanes and the Boeing strike.”

He estimated those temporary obstacles lowered payroll gains by 90,000 at most, suggesting that without them employers still would have added just 102,000 jobs. That's well below the 148,000 average during the previous three-month period, which was also affected by hurricanes, though less devastating ones.

Where is employment growing?

Health care led the meager August job gains with 52,000 while the government added 40,000. Other sectors shed jobs or added few. Professional and business services lost 47,000 because of a decline in temporary staffing positions. Manufacturing lost 46,000 jobs, largely because of the Boeing strike. Leisure and hospitality and construction were virtually flat amid the storms.  

Are wages increasing or decreasing?

Average hourly pay rose 13 cents to $35.46, keeping the yearly increase at 4%.   

As pandemic-related worker shortages have eased, pay increases have slowed. Economists have said yearly wage growth should slow to 3.5% to help realize the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation goal.

This week, a separate barometer of wage growth that economists say is more accurate, called the employment cost index, showed that private-sector wages grew 3.8% in the third quarter, the slowest pace in three years.

How much will the Fed cut interest rates?

Because the effects of the storms are uncertain, Barclays said before the report that the Fed probably would not read too much into an unusually low October jobs figure.

And despite the concerns the unusually weak jobs total raises about the labor market's health, Saunders said the Fed, "will look through the noise" and and opt for a measured quarter-point rate cut at a meeting next week, especially since other recent economic reports have been positive.

In September, the Fed lowered its key rate by a hefty half-percentage point – its first decrease since 2020 – because inflation has been easing and job growth slowed sharply in August. The Fed reduces rates to juice borrowing activity and a flagging economy or return rates to normal as inflation abates. Fed officials hiked rates aggressively in 2022 and 2023 as inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1%.

In September, however, employers added well over 200,000 jobs. And data this week revealed the economy grew at a healthy 2.8% annual rate in the third quarter as consumers kept spending. A persistently strong economy and job market could lead the Fed to pause its rate cuts to avoid reigniting inflation.

Assuming the labor market continues to cool gradually, many forecasters believe the Fed will move ahead with tentative plans to lower rates by a more modest quarter-point in November, December and at every other meeting next year.

How is the US job market right now?

More broadly, job growth has been solid despite high interest rates and inflation as strong wage gains bolster consumption. A surge of immigrants has filled job openings and further stoked spending.

But the flow of immigrants underpinning labor force growth is slowing, Goldman Sachs said. At the same time, the government and health care sectors, which have propped up U.S. job growth for months, have finally beefed up payrolls near where they would have been absent the pandemic, Goldman said. As a result, they’re now adding jobs more slowly.

The upshot is expected to be a notable pullback in job creation into next year to a pace that should help keep inflation contained while avoiding recession.

(This story was updated to add new information.)