Total nonfarm payroll employment was “essentially unchanged in October,” with a gain of 12,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.  

“The October jobs report showed a dismal gain of only 12,000 jobs, falling well below expectations. Additionally, hiring data for August and September was revised down by over a 100K bringing the average monthly job gain in the last three months down to 104,000,” said Dawit Kebede, America’s Credit Unions senior economist. “The Bureau of Labor Statistics noted that the response rates to the payroll survey were lower than usual, and Hurricanes Helen and Milton likely impacted the numbers. While, monthly numbers have been volatile, the overall trend shows that job gains are slowing down. Hence, the federal reserve is expected to reduce the federal funds rate by 50 basis points by the end of the year.”