Community | November 05, 2010 | 22 comments

October Jobs Report: Hiring Picks Up... Economy Adds 151,000 Jobs Last Month

source: http://money.cnn.com/2010/11/05/news/economy/october_jobs_report/index.htm?hpt=T2

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TimALoftis
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After months of painful losses, the economy added jobs last month, spurring hopes that the labor market may finally be turning around.

The economy added 151,000 jobs in October, the Labor Department reported Friday, an improvement over September, when the economy lost 41,000 jobs. That was much better than the 68,000 gain that economists surveyed by CNNMoney.com were expecting, and the best overall number since May.

"It's maybe an indication that we're starting to turn the corner," said Stephen Bronars, senior economist with Welch Consulting. "It's a small step, but at least we're going in the right direction. Things are definitely not going to get worse."

Businesses continued to hire for the tenth month in a row, following nearly two straight years of private sector losses. Companies added 159,000 jobs to their payrolls in October, much stronger than the 92,000 jobs economists had predicted for the sector.

But the government continued to slash jobs, shedding 8,000 workers in the month.

Only a handful of census workers were cut from government payrolls in October -- nearly the last of the temporary census jobs that have dragged down public sector job growth for the last four months.

And upward revisions for August and September showed there were 110,000 additional job gains in those months than previously reported.

The unemployment rate, which is calculated in a separate survey, remained unchanged at 9.6%, the government said Friday.

President Obama praised the strong numbers in an address following the announcement, but emphasized that more improvement is needed.

"That's not good enough," he said. "The unemployment rate is still high, and we've got a lot of work to do."
Americans still struggling

While the report was a generally positive sign, the job market is still very fragile. The labor market needs about 150,000 jobs per month just to keep pace with population growth, and at least 300,000 per month to make a dent in unemployment, Bronars said.

Unemployment is likely to remain high for some time. The rate doesn't include 1.2 million discouraged workers who've stopped looking for a job.

"There are still a lot of people who have stopped looking for work because there weren't as many hires, and as they come back in, it's going to keep that unemployment rate high for a while," Bronars said.

The number of Americans who are involuntarily working part-time, fell to 9.2 million in October but still remains just shy of record highs. This category includes workers who are stuck in part-time jobs because either their hours have been cut or they can't find full-time work.

The so-called underemployment rate, which counts both discouraged workers and involuntarily part-time workers, slipped to 17% from 17.1% in September. That means more than one in six adults are still without the job they want or need. To top of page
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22 comments // October Jobs Report: Hiring Picks Up... Economy Adds 151,000 Jobs Last Month

  • hammywill
    • +2
      hammywill  

    • This is a joke right? Gains in october are an indication of what? Seasonal hiring in the service sector. This is NOT an indication that the economy is getting better, this is typical of the fourth quarter. Also, a majority of those jobs will be part time retail jobs..which really amounts to nothing.

    • 1 year ago
  • Saladin
    • +1
      Saladin  

    • We'd have to have another full year of straight growth like this just to make it back to where we were around the time of the market crash.

      What are the chances that it's going to be sustained?

      America's economy is unbelievably fragile right now and its fundamentals are as weak as ever.

      While we sit here and bicker about whether or not the economy is coming out of recession, Wall Street is looking for its next bubble.

      We haven't substantially invested in any new infrastructure that will provide long-term job growth.

      Obama's stimulus did a little bit, but the private sector isn't even trying.

      Forget the partisan politics for a minute here guys, we're still in serious trouble.

    • 1 year ago
  • hammywill
    • +1
      hammywill  
    • Saladin:

      We also have no production. The U.S. is a net IMPORTER. 70 % of the economy is based on consumer spending. This makes it very doubtful that any type of actual recovery is happening any time soon.

    • 1 year ago
  • addie340
    • 0
      addie340  

    • Of course they are adding jobs we are heading into the Christmas season, people are hiring temporary people to help with what they hope to be a busy Christmas shopping season. It could also have something to do with the fact that they knew the Republican party was going to make big gains in the House and the Senate races, which they hope they will be giving more attention on job growth and continued tax breaks for business people. Probably has more to do with Christmas. Businesses are not hiring because they had no idea what Health Care was going to cost them, and the fact that they also had no idea what their tax burden was going to be. Obama never got it, now he will be forced to address the issue because the Republicans have taken over so many seats and are dead set on fixing the problems at hand. Be assured that Obama will try taking all the Credit for anything the Republicans do to turn things around. He blames it on Bush when things are bad, and so far has nothing to pat himself on the back for as far as doing something good.

    • 1 year ago
  • NickerBocker09
  • CalgarC
  • Vierotchka
  • NickerBocker09
  • hammywill
  • oppressed1
  • hammywill
    • 0
      hammywill  
    • oppressed1:

      I see now, in that graph it says PRIVATE sector has 10 straight months of job growth. Though it is debatable, and since it is just the private sector it is not an accurate reflection of how the economy is doing.

    • 1 year ago
  • Vierotchka
  • oppressed1
  • hammywill
  • Proud_Progressive
  • CCorsair
    • +1
      CCorsair  

    • TEMP JOB lasting 3 to 6 month only .. were back down after .. its the long term job people that count and the temp jobs are crap and indicate nothing. Ya the build a building or mall guess what if that stay empty there it a fail waste of work .. i seen over 100 please built and sit empty. we have big mall that the big new thing being built near here a your of so ago not it sits have done falling apart and has be sited as Blithe and is causing a local tax for it being empty and falling apart and the guy was building it went bank.. and the mall has set there dying.. and some one just made an offer but they may turn it down .. the local gov thinks it a better income generator with them charging a tax on all the people. this is what we have to change and we need to cut ..there are people and groups making red tape so sticky not new business or current business can grow. Yes we have very small long term job but not the size we need to get out of thing .. right now we will see jobs in sales and seasonal services but those will be gone after Jan with very few staying on WE need growth of jobs that long term per and give a person a living wage.. WE do not have that. no matter teh tax cuts you have to earn to file and living on Unemployment or welfare will do nothing tax wise for you. Job at minimum wage are not living wage jobs unless you kill your self with 2 or 3 of them.. WE need ob that not going to go away in 2 to 3 month and house building isn't picking up as fast . Even my area of tech consulting is effected as companies cut back and do not want of have the budget to hire me to consult for them or they just have go under or moved their company to overseas. The country is bleeding jobs and companies and no one is looking a real answers .. tax breaks only work if you have income that is being taxed , and if you make too much you don't get the break..
      Real jobs not minimum wage jobs that that are temp, Cut the red tape over taxing of small to mid-size companies. and stop trying turn ever job green when won't work .

      CC

    • 1 year ago
  • mitekillem
    • +2
      mitekillem  

    • Yeah Republicans did it .....yeah!!!

      Oh wait....the election hadn't happened yet.
      So I guess it must've been Obama and the Dems.
      -Oh well...too late. The American voter done fucked up now.

    • 1 year ago
  • tverdell
    • tverdell  
    • This comment was removed by its owner.
  • floydyboy
  • TimALoftis
    • +2
      TimALoftis  

    • fairly encouraging jobs report overall...still so much to do. For the unemployment number to start dropping substantially, the economy will need to add well over 300,000 jobs for several consecutive months.

    • 1 year ago
  • Proud_Progressive
  • pissedoffinarkansas
    • 0
      pissedoffinarkansas  
    • TimALoftis:

      Surely you don't buy into these bullshit numbers?! Our problem is in consumer confidence. Even without realizing it, the public can sense how fucked up things are right now so they don't spend even the paltry amount that they earn in their min. wage part time "job" except on necessity items. No new cars, no real estate, no new electronics. We are seriously fucked. Don't believe the lies, PLEASE!!

    • 1 year ago
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