October Jobs Report: US Economy Adds 250K Jobs Bankrate.com Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. How We Make Money
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. SHARE: Drew Angerer/Getty Images November 02, 2018 Kelly Anne Smith Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our banking reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — the best banks, latest rates, different types of accounts, money-saving tips and more — so you can feel confident as you’re managing your money. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. The U.S. economy added 250,000 in October, according to the latest jobs report from the . The report exceeded expectations, as experts anticipated the economy would add about 190,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained unchanged from 3.7 percent in the September report. Year over year, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased 3.1 percent. , Bankrate’s senior economic analyst, offers his views on the October jobs report. Something to be thankful for
With the nation’s unemployment rate at 3.7 percent, the October employment numbers broadly can be seen as reason to truly give thanks in the weeks ahead. We saw better-than-expected payroll gains at 250,000 jobs, surging wages and increased labor force participation. That’s a kind of an economic trinity that we haven’t often seen during this economic expansion. Of course, the benefits for workers end up being a potential drag for businesses, some of which are having an increasingly difficult time finding well-qualified job applicants. The National Federation of Independent Business recently noted that nearly 4 out of ten small business owners said they had job openings which they couldn’t fill last month. Beneath the surface
The goods-producing sector ramped up hiring with 67K jobs added, including increases for both manufacturing and construction. Even the retail trade, which is now in the midst of the seasonal hiring process (which would tend to be accounted for in seasonal adjustments) saw an increase reported with gains also in related warehousing and transportation and in wholesale trade. It is possible that we recaptured some of the jobs not reported present in the September numbers which were dampened by hurricane activity such as in the leisure and hospitality category. It saw an outsized gain last month of 42K jobs added after no change in the previous month. The midterm election
Anecdotally, Americans don’t appear to view the strength of the job market as a key issue either way this election cycle. Related issues, including health care, immigration, income inequality, drug addition, immigration and college affordability do rank higher on the list, however, according to Pew Research. A since the 2016 election. That speaks to the lack of more substantial wage gains seen over the course of the nearly-decade long economic expansion as well as the echoes of the financial crisis and Great Recession which continue to linger in many ways. We’re only now beginning to make up for that lost ground. Holiday shopping
As consumers approach the looming holiday shopping season, optimism is running high, helped in part by a broadly robust job market and the related confidence about employment. Even so, we know that too many Americans continue to live paycheck-to-paycheck. A Bankrate.com survey indicated earlier this year that only 29 percent of Americans had 6 months or more of expenses in savings. A nearly equal percentage said they had none. Similarly, we consistently have found that a shockingly large number of Americans would not be able to pay for an emergency expense of $1000 out of savings. Our hope is that consumers are lulled into a false sense of complacency about their own finances even as the storylines associated with the national economy remain generally upbeat. The best game plan on spending is to live beneath one’s means to avoid a New Year’s debt hangover. Federal Reserve is watching
having raised interest rates at its most recent gathering. But seeing a solid economy, as affirmed by the October employment numbers. So, it remains likely will have one final rate boost to announce at its December meeting, despite the president’s highly unusual criticism of Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he nominated. Borrowers, savers and investors alike should continue to prepare for the possibility of more rate increases in 2018. Muddled outlook
Among the concerns potentially dampening the outlook in the days, weeks and months ahead are the housing market slowdown, the U-S China trade dispute which is now weighing on business and the possibility of a federal government shutdown in early December. The housing market is facing a multifaceted series of challenges including affordability hurt by the continued rise in mortgage interest rates, surging home prices and changes in federal income tax deductions. The stakes are high as President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping prepare to meet in in Argentina during a Group of 20 summit as investors and business leaders hope for resolution of burgeoning trade disputes. Finally, once the election is behind, Congress faces unfinished business on approving measures to fund the government through the end of the year and beyond. SHARE: Kelly Anne Smith Related Articles