Job growth remained strong in October

The U.S. added 261,000 jobs in October, “its fewest since December 2020,” The Wall Street Journal reports Friday, per the U.S. Labor Department. The unemployment rate additionally rose to 3.7%.

The October report managed to show the economy’s overall resilience, with jobs gains nonetheless beating economists’ expectations regardless of the Federal Reserve’s inflation-fighting interest rate hikes, The New York Times notes. The numbers additionally afforded voters’ a “final glimpse” at the economy before next week’s midterm elections, and “will almost certainly make [their] way into both parties’ closing pitches … .”

However the Fed, which is working to cool the economy and fight decades-high inflation, “will take little comfort from the report,” the Journal writes, per economist Augustine Faucher. Sure, there are some indicators of economic slowdown, however nothing yet pronounced sufficient to appease the central bank. For one factor, wage growth continues to be an inflationary pain point, regardless of having moderated slightly.

“Even though the labor market is strong, this means that a recession is more likely rather than less because it means the Fed is going to end up raising rates even more,” Faucher informed the Journal.

“What I see in this [report] is the imprint of beginning weakness,” Diane Swonk of KPMG, informed the Times. “But it’s not enough to derail the Fed.”