WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. employers added a decent 161,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.9 percent from 5 percent. It was the final major report on a lukewarm but durable economy before Americans choose a new president next week.
The Labor Department said Friday that average hourly pay took a big step higher last month, rising 10 cents an hour to an average $25.92. That is 2.8 percent higher than a year ago and is the biggest 12-month increase in seven years.
The pickup in hourly pay follows a substantial increase last year in earnings for the typical household. The economy appears to be finally delivering widespread raises after years of sluggish pay gains. With the unemployment rate near healthy levels, businesses are likely trying harder to attract workers.
The steady hiring and low unemployment rate have also put the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates next month for the first time this year.
Still, the economy is growing at the slowest pace of any in a recovery since World War II. Growth picked up to a 2.9 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the government has estimated, much faster than the 1.1 percent pace for the first half of the year. But most analysts foresee only modest expansion in the October-December quarter, leaving growth at an anemic rate of about 1.8 percent for all of 2016.