Employers add surprising 165,000 jobs in October

Workers hold a hose as concrete in poured to form a beam on a residential building under construction in Miami. (Marta Lavandier/AP/file)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. job market bounced back last month from a disappointing September. Layoffs are low, and most Americans enjoy unusual job security.

But hiring has probably remained too modest to deliver much relief to those looking for work. And wage gains haven’t been keeping up with persistently high inflation.

The Labor Department released new data on October job creation and unemployment Nov. 6 showing that employers added 165,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate remained low at 4.1%.

The jobs report comes three days after voters handed a stunning defeat to President Donald Trump and his Republican Party in midterm elections. Frustrated with the state of the economy — and especially the high cost of living — Americans handed full control of the U.S. Congress to the Democrats.

Yet the American economy and job market have proven resilient in the face of a series of shocks — Trump’s double-digit taxes on imports and the war with Iran, which has driven U.S. gasoline prices above $4 a gallon and pinched family budgets.

Gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — advanced at a sprightly 3.4% annual pace from July through September, lifted by strong consumer spending and booming investment in artificial intelligence.

Payroll employment rises by 165,000 in October; unemployment rate changes little at 4.1% https://t.co/ZwrVfLvQgj #JobsReport #BLSdata

— BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) November 6, 2026

The job market has been solid but unspectacular.

So far this year, employers — companies, government agencies and nonprofits — have added an average of 68,000 jobs a month, including a disappointing 29,000 last month. That is modest by historic standards but an improvement over 2025 when monthly job creation averaged 9,700. That was the weakest performance outside of a recession since 2002. Last year, high interest rates and Trump’s unpredictable trade policies discouraged hiring.

Despite recovering this year, hiring remains well below the average of 166,000 monthly jobs created in 2023 and 2024, let alone the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns.

The October jobs report is strong on every level. -Huge surge in hiring: +165,000 -Unemployment rate falls to 4.1% for the right reasons -Over 400k people entered the labor force to search for work (and many did find opportunities). -Black unemployment falls to 6.6% (from 7% before) -Labor force participation rate rose to 61.9%, highest since March -Wage growth ticked up +0.4% in October -->best since January Bottom line: The US economy is averaging nearly +86,000 job gains a month in 2026. That's much better than the anemic +10,000 average in 2025.

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) November 6, 2026

Economists see a “low-fire, low-hire’’ environment in which employers are reluctant to let go of existing workers but aren’t in any hurry to hire new ones. Young people entering the workforce, or those who’ve lost their jobs, can struggle to find work.

The United States doesn’t need as many new jobs as it once did to keep the unemployment rate from rising. That is because baby boomer retirements and Trump’s immigration crackdown mean fewer people are competing for work.

In late 2023, the so-called break-even point was around 166,000 new jobs a month. It’s now just over 5,000, according to an estimate by Yale University’s Budget Lab, which drew on an earlier Federal Reserve report.

Meanwhile, rising prices have pinched pay for millions of Americans. After taking inflation into account, average hourly earnings fell 0.7% in September — the sixth straight year-over-year drop and one explanation for voters’ fury at the polls Nov. 3.