U.S. Economy Adds 165,000 Jobs in October, Crushing Forecasts as Unemployment Dips to 4.1%

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (TodayViralUSA) — U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in October, nearly three times what economists had expected, and the unemployment rate slipped to 4.1%, a show of labor-market strength that has raised the odds of another Federal Reserve interest-rate increase in December.

The Labor Department’s monthly report, released Friday, far exceeded forecasts of roughly 59,000 to 70,000 new jobs in surveys of economists. The unemployment rate fell from 4.2% in September, defying expectations that it would hold steady.

Upward revisions and firmer wages

Hiring in prior months was also stronger than first reported. September’s gain was revised up to 60,000 from 29,000, and August’s to 186,000 from 133,000, adding a combined 84,000 jobs to the earlier tally.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% from September, ahead of the 0.3% forecast, and were up 3.1% from a year earlier, according to Yahoo Finance — a pace that likely still trails inflation, leaving many workers’ real pay under pressure.

Rate-hike bets climb as stocks end a rough week

The robust figures lifted market-implied odds of a Fed rate hike in December to about 78%. Stocks closed mixed on Friday: the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.09% and the S&P 500 added 0.31% as chipmakers rebounded from Thursday’s steep sell-off, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.46%.

For the week, the S&P 500 fell 2.7%, the Nasdaq 3.4% and the Dow 0.9%, the market’s worst week since June, as investors weighed AI valuations, the midterm results and the prospect of tighter monetary policy.