ARLINGTON, Va.—The October employment report indicated a similar number of jobs were added compared with September, “but the underlying details were more positive," said NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long.
Non-farm payrolls rose 638,000 during the month, and while the unemployment rate fell one percentage point to 7.9%, the labor participation rate increased 0.3 percentage points to 61.7%.
"The labor force contracted sharply in September, but all those losses were recovered in October," Long said. "The number of workers temporarily furloughed declined by 1.4 million to 3.2 million without a significant increase in permanent job losses, suggesting that businesses are bringing workers back or are staying in business even under limited capacity or staying closed.
“Furthermore, job gains in October would have been even stronger but for the subtraction of 147,000 Census takers during the month," he added.
‘Better Than Anticipated, But…’
Results among the major industries were positive, led by services growth. Leisure and hospitality gained 271,000 jobs, followed by professional and business services (+208,000 jobs) and retail trade (+104,000).
Average hourly earnings rose four cents in October and year-over-year growth was 4.6%.
“Uncertainty remains as the U.S. reaches new COVID-19 case peaks and household are potentially reaching the end of their CARES Act savings,” Long concluded. "The recovery has fared better than anticipated, but a full recovery is still a long ways away, as the labor market will not return to February employment levels until 2022 if the present pace holds. NAFCU expects more steady job gains in the near term.”