Job growth of the United States in October was far below previous expectations, and experts attributed it to disruptions of hurricanes and strikes by workers in the aerospace industry.
The U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday that nonfarm payrolls increased by 12,000 jobs in October, far below the previous forecast of 113,000 by some economists and also significantly lower than the monthly average level over the past year.
Manufacturing and retail trade employment declined by 46,000 and 64,000, respectively, while professional and technical jobs decreased by 47,000.
The sluggish job growth is attributed to hurricanes Helene and Milton that lashed across the southeastern United States in late September and early October, as well as the crippling strikes launched by U.S. workers, most at Boeing, according to experts.
After its Sept. 17-18 meeting, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) slashed the target range for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 4.75-5 percent, amid cooling inflation and a weakening labor market. This marked the first rate cut in over four years and signaled the start of an easing cycle.
The Fed will hold its next policy meeting from Wednesday to Thursday. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group's FedWatch Tool, which acts as a barometer for the market's expectation of the Fed funds target rate, showed that as of Friday morning, the probability of the Fed cutting rates by 25 basis points at the November meeting was over 99 percent.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported on Friday that the U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) stood at 46.5 percent in October, down 0.7 percentage points from the 47.2-percent reading registered in September and hitting a new low of this year.
Any reading below 50 percent indicates the manufacturing sector is generally contracting. The number marks that in 23 of the past 24 months, the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted, showing a continuous weak demand.
Weak U.S. job growth in October attributed to hurricanes, strikes
