Holly Mackerel. Even CNN says uses the headline "Job Growth Soars". Now, where is Lizzie who said on this thread 10 months ago jobs weren't coming back?
Job growth soars
October report shows greatest strength in employment since April, easily topping forecasts.
November 5, 2004: 9:08 AM EST
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. employers added far more jobs in October, the best performance in six months, according to a government report Friday that came in well above Wall Street expectations.
The Labor Department report showed a net gain of 337,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in the month, up from the revised 139,000 gain in September. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were looking for only a 175,000 job gain.
The unemployment rate came in at 5.5 percent, which despite the big jump in jobs was up from the 5.4 percent rate in September. Economists were expecting the unemployment rate to stay at 5.4 percent.
"I think this report clearly shows that we got a hurricane bounceback," said Anthony Chan, senior economist for J.P. Morgan Fleming Asset Management. "It also puts the possibility of a Fed rate hike in December back in play."
While economists and investors were in strong agreement that the Fed is likely to raise rates by a quarter percentage point its Nov. 10 meeting, many expected the central bank to take a pause in their policy of measured rate hikes at the December meeting.
This report sent stock futures higher and bond prices sharply lower, as bond yields rose on the expectation of further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
Among the sectors showing strong growth was construction hiring, which gained 71,000 jobs, boosted by cleanup and reconstruction efforts in hurricane-affected areas of the Southeast.
Professional and business services also added 97,000 jobs, while retailers added a seasonally adjusted 21,000 ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Among the sectors losing ground manufacturing employment saw a net decrease of 5,000 jobs.
Job reports showed strong growth from March through May, then have been generally weak and less than forecasts since then.
Chan cautioned that the strong October number might not be an indication that employment is back on the fast track it appeared to be in the spring. He pointed out that the average work week stayed steady at 33.8 hours and that number normally climbs before a sustained period of increased hiring.
"Without an increase this month, it is hard to believe that employers are dying to hire 300,000-plus new workers each month," he said.
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