'200,000 New Jobs Were Added In October,' Says Obama

09 Nov 2013

The employers in US added 204,000 jobs in October. This is an unexpected surge of employment during a month in which for 16 days, the federal government was partially shut down.

The Labor Department of the United States says the unemployment rate rose from 7.2% in September to 7.3%, probably as federal workers who were not working due to the shutdown were counted as unemployed. However, the report noted that the total jobs were not affected by the shutdown.

Also, reaching beyond the earlier estimate, employers added 60,000 more jobs in the past two months.

Up from the 146,000 jobs added from May through July, an average of 202,000 jobs were added from August through October.

The percentage of Americans looking or working for jobs went down to a fresh 35-year low. However, it is possible that even that figure is distorted by the shutdown.

The strongest gains in the jobs market were in the hospitality and leisure sector, which added 53,000 jobs; business and professional services, over 44,000; and retail trade, which added another 44,000 positions.

Manufacturing and construction together added 30,000 jobs.

While warning that the economy is still affected by the shutdown, the White House cheered the data.