The US economy added 531,000 jobs in October, greater than gains in August and September, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The overall unemployment rate continued its steady decrease, dropping 0.2 percentage points to 4.6% for the month. The number of unemployed people fell by 255,000 to 7.4 million.
The Census Bureau’s October Household Survey data recorded that 3.8 million people were “unable to work due to their employer closing or losing business due to the pandemic.” That’s 1.2 million fewer than in September.
Still, the economy is not at pre-pandemic levels of employment. In January 2020, the unemployment rate was 3.5% and about 5.8 million people were unemployed. US total employment is now at 148.3 million, about 2.6% lower than January of last year.
