The U.S. economy added just 12,000 jobs in October, the lowest since Dec. 2020. The number is sharply down from 223,000 jobs added in September, and way below the Dow Jones’ estimate of 100,000 jobs added in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report, released Friday, cites the hurricanes in the Southeast and the Boeing labor strike as reasons for the decline. The unemployment rate stayed the same at 4.1 percent. Cory Stahle, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, told CNBC that the slow job growth is “not a signal of a collapsing job market” because the effects of the storms and labor strike are “likely temporary.” With the election just days away, and the economy on the top of everyone’s minds, the jobs report “casts a murky shadow heading into next week,” Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS, told CNBC.
