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The latest employment situation report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), released Friday morning, showed that the economy added only 12,000 jobs in October, or 12% of the 100,000 additions expected. It's the smallest gain in four years, since December 2020.
The average monthly job gain over the past year was 194,000 jobs, placing October's 12,000 in context as lower than the norm.
The report "showed a material weakening in job growth," EY Senior Economist Lydia Boussour told Entrepreneur in an emailed statement.
The less-than-expected job growth could be explained by Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton, and the dockworkers' strike that happened for three days in early October.
"Employment declined in manufacturing due to strike activity," the report noted.
Related: The Port Strike Ended — Now What? Here's How Small Businesses Can Prepare for Future Disruptions.
It acknowledged later that due to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, "it is likely that payroll employment estimates in some industries were affected by the hurricanes; however, it is not possible to quantify the net effect…because the establishment survey is not designed to isolate effects from extreme weather events."
Even with lower job growth, the unemployment rate was constant at 4.1%, the same rate it was in September.
There were seven million people unemployed in the U.S. in October, an increase from the 6.4 million unemployed at the same time last year.
The Federal Reserve will take this report into account when it meets next week to decide on interest rate policies.
"Overall, the October jobs report likely keeps the Fed on track for a cautious 25bps rate cut at next week's policy meeting," Boussour stated. "Fed officials will likely look through the noisy payroll figures and rely on the totality of labor market data which continues to point to cooler labor market dynamics and ongoing wage growth disinflation."
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