US jobs report for October could show solid hiring as Fed watches for signs of inflation pressures
America’s employers likely kept hiring at a healthy pace last month, defying high interest rates, rising pressure on consumers and labor strikes that idled big swaths of the nation’s auto industry
WASHINGTON (AP) — America's employers likely kept hiring at a healthy pace last month, defying high interest rates, rising pressure on consumers and labor strikes that idled big swaths of the nation's auto industry.
The government’s October jobs report is expected to show Friday that companies and government agencies added 184,000 jobs, a solid showing, though down sharply from a blockbuster 336,000 gain in September. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at 3.8%, a couple of notches above a half-century low, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet.
The U.S. job market has remained surprisingly strong even as the Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times since March 2022 to try to slow the economy, cool hiring and tame inflation, which hit a four-decade high last year.
The Fed scrutinizes the monthly job data to assess whether employers are still hiring and raising pay aggressively as a result of labor shortages. When that happens, companies typically try to pass on their higher labor costs to their customers in the form of higher prices, thereby raising inflationary pressures.
