Friday, November 8, 2013

Shutdown slowdown? Job creation soars in October

This is a breaking news story. Check back here for updates.
Forget the shutdown: Job creation surged in October despite dimmed expectations from the impasse in Washington.
There were a net 204,000 new jobs created for the month, though the unemployment rate rose to 7.3 percent and households reported a huge drop in employment. A separate measure that includes the underemployed and those who have quit looking also moved higher, from 13.6 percent to 13.8 percent.
The numbers easily topped economist expectations of 120,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs for the month, though it matched estimates for a slightly increase in the headline jobless rate.
"I find this bizarre," Moody's economist Mark Zandi told CNBC. "I wouldn't be surprised if this gets revised to some degree...down."
The data gave markets a jolt: Stock market futures that had indicated a higher opening turned lower, while interest rates spiked.
Leisure and hospitality led the way in job creation with 53,000 new positions, 29,000 of which came from bars and restaurants.
Though the jobs creation number jumped, there was a mixed bag of news. The civilian labor force tumbled by 720,000 and the labor force participation rate fell to its lowest since March 1978.

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