(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) — The economy added 638,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dipped to 6.9% in October, the Labor Department reported Friday, beating forecasters’ expectations.
Hiring remained extremely high by historical standards, especially considering October’s total includes the loss of nearly 150,000 temporary Census jobs.
Yet employment growth has slowed in recent months, leaving economists worried that the pace of recovery is not enough to avoid a prolonged recession. After record-smashing job gains in the summer as employers rehired workers who had been laid off in the first wave of the pandemic, payroll increases have fallen off the pace needed for a rapid recovery to normal.
