U.S. employers added 171,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a point to 7.9% as more people entered the labor force, the Labor Department reported Friday
Trucking added 3,600 jobs for the month, while September’s increase was revised down slightly, Labor figures showed.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the August trucking jobs number had been revised upward.
The payrolls gain exceeded analysts’ most optimistic forecast in which the median called for an advance of 125,000, while the unemployment rate matched economists’ projections, Bloomberg reported.
Labor revised its September jobs increase to 148,000 from an originally reported 114,000.
Trucking’s September employment increase was revised downward to a 200 decline from an originally reported gain of 700, Labor figures showed.
Factories added 13,000 in October after a decline of 14,000 in September, Bloomberg said.
Private payrolls excluding government workers rose by 184,000, which was above analysts’ forecasts of a 123,000 increase, Bloomberg reported.
About 578,000 more people entered the labor market from the previous month, the Washington Post reported.
The payroll and unemployment figures are obtained by separate surveys, with payrolls from a survey of employers and the unemployment rate from a survey of households.
