Expectations heading into this morning showed projections of about 170,000 new jobs having been added in the United States in October. As it turns out, according to the new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market didn’t quite meet those projections — though there was a catch. The New York Times reported:
Employers added 150,000 jobs in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department said on Friday. … The October numbers may have been held down because the survey was taken during major work stoppages — notably the strikes by the United Automobile Workers and related layoffs. Since then, the U.A.W. has reached tentative contract agreements with the three major U.S. automakers and told striking members to return to their jobs.
The unemployment rate inched up, from 3.8% to 3.9%.
The reference to the UAW strike is notable, because it adds a relevant caveat to the data. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report made multiple references to “strike activity” and its impact on manufacturing employment.
In other words, the new figures matter, but they only tell part of a larger story.
As for overall job growth, with revisions from August and September factored in, we’ve now seen roughly 2.39 million jobs created so far this year — and that’s after just 10 months, not the entire calendar year.
As for the politics, let’s circle back to previous coverage to put the data in perspective. Over the course of the first three years of Donald Trump’s presidency — when the Republican said the United States’ economy was the greatest in the history of the planet — the economy created roughly 6.35 million jobs, spanning all of 2017, 2018 and 2019.
According to the latest tally, the U.S. economy has created roughly 14.4 million jobs since January 2021 — more than double the combined total of Trump’s first three years.
In recent months, Republicans have responded to developments like these by pretending not to notice them. No one should be surprised if GOP officials keep the trend going today.
For some additional context, consider job growth by year over the past decade:
2013: 2.3 million
2014: 3 million
2015: 2.7 million
2016: 2.3 million
2017: 2.1 million
2018: 2.3 million
2019: 2 million
2020: -9.3 million
2021: 7.3 million
2022: 4.8 million
2023 (so far): 2.39 million
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
