US employers added 531,000 jobs in October, with the unemployment rate dropping to 4.6 per cent, indicating a hiring rebound as the Delta wave weakened, the US Labor Department has reported. The latest data followed upwardly revised job gains of 312,000 in September, and upwardly revised job gains of 483,000 in August, when labor market recovery slowed amid a Delta variant-fueled Covid-19 surge. In July, job gains were over 1 million.
In October, job gains were significant in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, manufacturing, as well as transportation and warehousing. Employment in public education, however, declined over the month, following a drop in September, Xinhua news agency reported.
The unemployment rate edged down by 0.2 percentage points to 4.6 per cent in October, after dropping by 0.4 percentage points in September. The figure was down considerably from its recent high in April 2020, yet remained well above the pre-pandemic level of 3.5 per cent.
