Catherwood LibraryILR School

The October jobs report showed some good news: employers added about 204,000 jobs, which was well above what was expected. The unemployment rate went up by .1% to 7.3% nationwide and the labor force participation rate fell to 62.8% from 63.2%. Both the increase in unemployment and labor force participation rate are partially explained by the partial federal government shutdown. Overall, the number of people employed by the government declined, however the number of people employed in hospitality, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and technical services all increased.