U.S. Economy Adds Fewer Jobs than Expected, 195K Leave Labor Force

DEVELOPING: The Labor Department said Friday the U.S. economy added 161,000 jobs in October, far below the median economist forecast calling for 175,000. While the headline unemployment rate fell to 4.9% as expected, the labor force participation rate fell to 62.8% as 195,000 American workers quit looking for a job.

The less-cited but arguably more important employment-population ratio, at 59.7%, represented no improvement.

In October, there was another jump in temporary employment and decline in full-time employment, while higher-wage jobs in industries such as manufacturing (-9K) and construction (-1K) fell again. In the prior three months, the manufacturing sector lost 16,000, 8,000 and 9,000, totally 33,000 in all.

Mining and logging lost 2,000 jobs after losing 4,000, 4,000 and 1,000 in the prior three months, respectively.

The number of Americans now employed part time for economic reasons–sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers–was at 5.9 million.

These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. Part-time jobs were up 90,000 and full-time jobs are down by 103,000. That helps explain the 10,000 job increase in Leisure and Hospitality, as well as

The number of long-term unemployed–or, American workers who have been jobless for 27 weeks or more–was unimproved at 2.0 million in October. They accounted for 25.2% of the total unemployed in the headline rate.