The U.S. economy added 161,000 new jobs in October, missing Wall Street expectations.
The Labor Department released its monthly jobs report Friday morning, and the new numbers were lower than predicted. Economic forecasters predicted 175,000 new jobs would be added in October, but the reported figure was 161,000.
Friday’s report comes four days before the Nov. 8 presidential election, and the new data is unlikely to provide either candidate with substantial political fodder in the campaign’s final weekend.
While the number of new jobs fell short of expectations, average hourly earnings rose 2.8 percent, which is the strongest annual wage growth since June 2009, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Federal Reserve has been on track to raise interest rates, and has held off due to the hotly contested presidential race. The moderate jobs growth is not expected to have a large impact on the Reserve’s plans to raise the interest rate sometime after Election Day. Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen has suggested that the Federal Reserve would raise the interest rate, citing increased jobs growth and a (relatively) positive economic outlook.
The Bureau of Labor statistics also revised its Aug. and Sept. figures, updating the numbers to be higher than first reported. The economy added 44,000 more jobs in the previous two months than first reported by the Bureau. The unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent, and the number of unemployed persons is approximately 7.8 million.
The labor participation rate, which indicates the share of working-age Americans who are either employed or looking for work, fell slightly, to 62.8 percent, signaling that the number of Americans in the labor force has actually declined.
Heath care employment rose by 31,000 in October, and employment in the financial and business added 14,000 jobs. Employment in mining, construction, retail and transportation changed little from September. The average workweek for all employees remained at 34.4 hours, unchanged from the previous month.
The Bureau noted that Hurricane Matthew may have affected its data, noting that severe weather may affect average weekly hours statistics. The Bureau explained that many workers may be off of work during extreme weather, lowering thier number of hours, while others who are working in cleanup and repair industries may see a jump in the number of hours worked.
While Clinton will have tough running on issues like Obamacare, which will result in double-digit premium hikes, she may be able to point to the new data to argue that President Obama has navigated the country through the great recession, and has dug us out of an economic hole.
Republican nominee Donald Trump, who frequently blasts what he refers to as the Obama-Clinton economy, may point to the stagnant growth as underwhelming, and debt as skyrocketing.
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