US Job Growth Down In October Due To Hurricanes -- Pres. Biden

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) WASHINGTON, Nov 1 (KUNA) -- The total nonfarm payroll employment in the United States remained essentially unchanged in October (+12,000), with hurricanes Helene and Milton negatively impacting the job growth rate.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent, the Dept. of labor said in a press release Friday, citing a report by its Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Employment continued to trend up in health care and government. Temporary help services lost jobs. Employment declined in manufacturing due to strike activity.
Health care and government, two of the three major drivers of job growth in recent years, continued to add employment, showing increases of 51,300 jobs and 40,000 jobs, respectively.
The third leg of that stool, leisure and hospitality, however, lost 4,000 jobs. Given Florida's tourism-centric economy, this was one industry expected to show the impacts from the hurricanes.
"The construction industry also appears to have been weakened by storm activity as well," noted Dean Baker, senior economist for the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
"That sector recorded a net gain of 8,000 jobs when it's averaged 20,000 this year through September, he said.
The largest job losses occurred in temporary help services (-48,500); professional and business services (-47,000); and manufacturing (-46,000). BLS noted that the manufacturing jobs declined due to strike activity.
Of the 41,400 new workers that went on strike 33,000 were Boeing machinists and another 5,000 were Textron Aviation machinists, according to BLS strike data. Textron ended its strike two weeks ago.
Commenting on the figures, President Joe Biden said, "the devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and new strike activity, lowered job growth."
"Job growth is expected to rebound in November as our hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts continue," he said in a White House statement.
"In addition, I want to congratulate the leadership of the Machinists and Boeing for negotiating a new contract proposal that will be voted on by union members.
"Machinists at Boeing have sacrificed over the years and deserve a strong contract. America's economy remains strong, with 16 million jobs created since I took office, including an average 180,000 jobs created each month over the last year-more than the year before the pandemic.
"We have the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in 50 years, our economy has grown more than any presidential term this century, incomes are up USD 4,000 over prices, and inflation has fallen nearly to its two percent target.
"There's more work to do. We are working every day to lower costs for working families on rent, prescription drugs, health insurance, and child care," Biden noted.
"Congressional Republicans, however, are proposing a national sales tax that would cost families nearly USD 4,000 a year, hurt American manufacturing, and cut hundreds of thousands of jobs.
"They are fighting for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations-we are fighting to grow the middle class," he added. (end)
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