Hiring across the U.S. held steady in October even coronavirus cases flared across the country. Employers added 638,000 jobs last month, a slight drop from 672,000 the previous month, the Labor Department said on Friday.
The nation’s unemployment rate dropped by a full percentage point, to 6.9%, as more unemployed workers found work, and people on temporary layoff were called back to their jobs. The unemployment has fallen steadily since peaking at 14.7% in April as workers have regained jobs or given up searching for work.
In a more troubling sign, the number of long-term unemployed Americans increased by 1.2 million last month. That means one-third of the 11 million unemployed workers has been jobless for 27 weeks or more.
“Today’s jobs report reveals continuing improvements in the U.S. labor market, but the rate of employment growth has slowed considerably as economic conditions remain weak and uncertain,” Robard Williams, senior vice president at Moody’s Investors Service, said in a note.
The U.S. economy has recovered about 12 million of the 22 million jobs lost in April and May as COVID-19 was spreading around the U.S.
“It is important to recognize that the current pace of improvement will not return the labor market to its pre-crisis employment levels until 2022, but October was a decidedly encouraging report,” said Curt Long, chief economist of the National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions, in an email.
This is a developing story.
