On Friday, November 3, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released the monthly payroll figures for the month of October. Although the number of jobs added to the economy rose less than forecast, overall data suggested that the US economy quickly recovered from the September blip due to the hurricanes.

1. Payrolls rise less than expected. Previous two month data revised higher

Payrolls in the US were seen rising 261,000 in the month of October. This was lesser than the forecasts from economists who expected to see a headline print of 313,000.

U.S. Nonfarm payrolls, October 2017 (Source: Tradingeconomics.com)

The previous two month’s combined revision saw an additional 351,000 jobs being added which was positive for the US economy. In September alone, payrolls revised higher to show 18,000 jobs being added compared to the initial print that showed a decline of 33,000.

The revision suggested that the hurricanes did not manage to create a considerable impact that could have slowed down the pace of job gains or economic activity in the region. Job gains were seen rising strongly in the hospitality sector.

On the flip side, digging deeper into the data, civilian employment which is another measure of the jobs created and includes the small businesses showed a decline of 484,000 during the period. However, in the larger context, this comes amid 906,000 jobs that were added in September.

2. US unemployment rate falls to 4.1%

While economists were expecting to see the unemployment rate staying unchanged at 4.2%, the data for October saw the unemployment rate in the United States falling to 4.1%.

U.S. Unemployment rate, October 2017 (Source: Tradingeconomics.com)

However, this decline in the unemployment rate came amid some of the workforce stopped looking for a job. On a yearly basis, the unemployment rate was seen decreasing by 0.7% with the number of unemployed persons decreasing by 1.1 million.

The 4.1% unemployment rate marked the lowest rate since the year 2000, marking a 17-year low. The labor force was however seen to be increasing as data showed an increase of 1.2 million in the past year.