Unemployment falls as U.S. adds 271,000 jobs
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The nation’s employment picture in October improved slightly over September as the unemployment rate dropped from 5.1 to 5 percent, and the country added 271,000 positions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday.
The number of positions added was a strong reversal from four months of falling numbers.
Sectors that added employees included professional and business services (78,000 jobs); health care (45,000); retail trade (44,000); and food services and drinking places (42,000).
Employment in other sectors — including manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, and financial activities — were essentially unchanged from the previous month.
The BLS Friday revised its employment figures for August and September. In August, the nation picked up 153,000 jobs, not the 136,000 previously reported. But for September, weak job gains were revised even lower, from 142,000 to 137,000 positions, the BLS said.
The government also reported that in October, average hourly earnings for private, non-farm employees rose by 9 cents to $25.20. The figure had risen a penny in September.
Unemployment over the last 12 months has been steadily trending downward. The October 2015 figure percent is about 7 percentage points lower than a year earlier.
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