October's jobs report was significantly weaker than expected, and job growth in various industries painted a mixed picture for the U.S. economy.
Health care and social assistance made the largest contributions last month. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 51,300 new jobs were created in this field. If private education institutions were included in the health care group, as some economists do, the category would have seen even greater gains, at 57,000.
The government had the second-highest gains during the period, reporting a 40,000 increase in jobs. That's roughly in line with the group's average monthly profit of about 43,000 over the last 12 months.
Wholesale and construction also recorded slight increases, with increases of 10,400 and 8,000 respectively.
Other sectors, however, recorded massive losses. Professional and business services led the way with a decline of 47,000. Manufacturing was right behind this category, declining by 46,000.
In particular, the Bureau of Labor Statistics cited strike activity as a cause of the decline in manufacturing. The machinists' strike at Boeing has been going on for more than seven weeks. On Thursday, however, Boeing and the union agreed to a sweetened contract offer that will be voted on Monday.
Julia Pollak, ZipRecruiter's chief economist, said that while this report “broadly” reflects the impact of the strike and storms like Hurricanes Helene and Milton, it is not necessarily a “blip.”
“It's consistent with the overall picture and the continued slowdown in the labor market that we've seen over the last two years,” she told CNBC. “The main problem in the labor market is still tight monetary policy, not strikes and storms, and that's actually kind of a consistent narrative that we've seen.”
Leisure and hospitality, the leader in job growth in the September report, and retail were two other key sectors hit by declines. The former shrank by 4,000 jobs, the latter shrank even more at 6,400.
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