Despite strong job growth in October, the unemployment rate remained at a near 50 year low of 3.7%, as the labor force participation rate rose two tenths to 62.9% in the month.
Regarding wage earnings, year-over-year data indicates strong price pressures, up from 2.8% in September to 3.1% in October.
The continued strength of payroll job growth, as well as the slowly building wage pressures in recent months, support the scenario of a fourth rate hike this year by the Fed at its December meeting.
Not only were the 250,000-payroll job increases in October larger than expectations, but the job gains were also very widespread.
As well, the private sector average hourly wage gains in October of 3.1% year-on-year, were the highest since 2009. As the chart below indicates, the wage gains were very strong across most industries.
The US Wages Bounced Up Sharply In October (2)
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