On Friday morning, the U.S. Department of Labor will release the Employment Situation numbers for the month of October. As weekly jobless claims have been dropping over the course of October, we can expect a somewhat favorable report. The jobless four-week moving average was at recovery lows not seen since May of 2000.
Bloomberg has a consensus estimate for nonfarm payrolls of 240,000, compared to the previous readings in September of 248,000 and 180,000 in August. September’s revision will come out with the report, but looking back, net revisions for July and August were up 69,000.
The unemployment rate is expected to hold consistent with its September rate of 5.9%. This has fallen from 6.1% in August. September also recorded a six-year low in the jobless rate. In the household survey in September, the labor force declined 97,000, employment gained 232,000 and the number of unemployed dropped 329,000.
Bloomberg is expecting an increase in hourly earnings of 0.2%, which is down from the previous month’s reading of 0.3%.
Private payrolls are expected to be 235,000, compared to September’s 236,000.
Average weekly hours for September ticked up to 34.6 hours from 34.5 hours in August, and expectations for October are 34.6 hours.
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