Jobs numbers got back on track in October, with the US adding 531,000 nonfarm jobs during the month, beating expectations. Job growth has averaged 582,000 per month so far this year. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported the number of temporary jobs in the US rose by 41,100.
In addition, the change in temporary help services employment for August was revised upward from a loss of 3,700 jobs to a gain of 27,400 jobs, and the loss of 5,200 jobs for September was revised to a gain of 6,100 jobs.
US temp jobs totaled more than 2.77 million in October. The temp penetration rate — the number of temp jobs as a percent of total employment — increased to 1.87% in October from 1.84% in September.
“The gain of 41,100 temporary help jobs in October, and upward revisions to job gains in August and September, are very good news for the US staffing industry, and further evidence that economic growth is broad-based across the US economy, said Timothy Landhuis, director of research, North America, at SIA.
So far, the number of total nonfarm jobs has increased by 18.2 million since the trough in April 2020 but is down by 4.2 million, or 2.8%, from its pre-pandemic level in February 2020, according to the BLS.
The BLS reported that job growth was widespread, with notable job gains in leisure and hospitality; professional and business services; manufacturing; and in transportation and warehousing. Employment in public education declined over the month.
The industry group with the largest gain in jobs in October was the “leisure and hospitality” group, which added 164,000 jobs, according to the BLS. The only industry group that posted a decline was government, down by 73,000 jobs.
In October, the US unemployment rate was 4.6%, down from 4.8% in September. The unemployment rate for those with bachelor’s degree and higher edged downward to 2.4% in October from 2.5%.
More information is available in the full SIA US jobs report.