October Jobs Report: Payrolls Rise 165,000, Unemployment at 4.1%

U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.1%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday, Nov. 6. BLS also revised August and September payrolls up by a combined 84,000.

Professional and business services, health care, and transportation and warehousing led the gains, BLS said. August's gain was revised to 186,000 from 133,000 and September's to 60,000 from 29,000. By our calculation, payrolls rose an average of 137,000 a month over the three months.

What did the October jobs report show?

Measure	Oct. 2026	Sept. 2026	Aug. 2026
Nonfarm payrolls, change	+165,000 (p)	+60,000 (p)	+186,000
Private payrolls, change	+159,000 (p)	+78,000 (p)	+142,000
Unemployment rate (U-3)	4.1%	4.2%	4.1%
U-6 underemployment rate	7.9%	7.6%	7.7%
Labor force participation	61.9%	61.8%	61.6%
Employment-population ratio	59.3%	59.2%	59.1%
Average hourly earnings	$38.00	$37.86	$37.76
Average weekly hours, private	34.4	34.4	34.4

Source: BLS Employment Situation, October 2026, Summary tables A and B and Table A-15, seasonally adjusted. (p) = preliminary.

Which industries added jobs in October?

Private service providers added 144,000 jobs and goods producers 15,000, BLS's establishment survey showed. Government added 6,000.

Industry	October change
Professional and business services	+70,000
Health care and social assistance	+55,100
Transportation and warehousing	+24,800
Manufacturing	+19,000
Financial activities	+7,000
Retail trade	+6,000
Construction	-3,000
Wholesale trade	-9,100
Leisure and hospitality	-13,000

Source: BLS Summary table B. Health care alone added 42,000, BLS said.

The gain in professional and business services contrasts with ADP's count of a 27,000 loss in that sector for October; the two surveys use different data. See our ADP and ISM services brief.

What does the household survey say?

Under the headline rate, the household survey was mixed. The number of unemployed people was little changed at 7.1 million. Long-term unemployed, those jobless 27 weeks or more, were 2.0 million, or 27.6% of the unemployed. People working part time for economic reasons rose 339,000 to 4.8 million, which pushed U-6 up 0.3 point to 7.9%. The unemployment rate has stayed between 4.1% and 4.3% since March, BLS said.

Wages grew 3.1% from a year earlier. October 2025 household data were not collected because of the federal government shutdown, BLS notes, so some household measures have no year-earlier comparison.

What does the jobs report mean for the December Fed meeting?

The report shows faster hiring and upward revisions, with 0.4% monthly wage growth. The Fed held its target range at 3.75% to 4% on Oct. 28, and its next meeting is Dec. 8–9, with new economic projections; see the FOMC meeting schedule for 2026 and 2027. Thursday's data showed third-quarter productivity up at a 3.6% rate and unit labor costs down; see our productivity and jobless claims brief.

BLS will publish the November jobs report on Friday, Dec. 4, at 8:30 a.m. ET, four days before the Fed meeting.