U.S. payrolls rose by 165,000 in October, compared with a 48,000 monthly average over the past year, BLS says

U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.1%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on November 6. Over the previous 12 months, payrolls had grown by an average of 48,000 a month. BLS also raised its estimates for the two months before October.

In September, the first estimate was a gain of 29,000 jobs; BLS now puts it at 60,000. August was revised from 133,000 to 186,000. Together, the two months had 84,000 more jobs than first reported.

Smoothing out the monthly swings, payrolls grew by an average of 137,000 jobs a month in the three months to October, up from 79,000 in the three months to September and 69,000 in the three months to August, according to BLS's summary table. Private employers accounted for 159,000 of October's gain.

Where the jobs were

Professional and business services added 70,000 jobs, well above the sector's average of 15,000 a month over the past year, BLS says, with gains in scientific and technical services and in administrative and support work. Health care added 42,000, led by hospitals and home health care. Transportation and warehousing added 25,000, most of them at couriers and messengers, a group that BLS says has gained 71,000 jobs since February.

Manufacturing added 19,000 and is up 101,000 since a low in December 2025, according to the report. Leisure and hospitality was down 13,000, a change BLS counted as little changed, as it did for construction, retail, information, finance and government.

What it means for workers and paychecks

Average hourly earnings for private-sector employees rose 14 cents in October to $38.00, a 3.1% increase over 12 months. For production and nonsupervisory workers, about 82% of private-sector employees, pay rose 0.4% to $32.75 an hour. The average workweek stayed at 34.4 hours.

Not every measure improved. The number of people working part time because their hours were cut or they could not find full-time work rose by 339,000 to 4.8 million. About 2.0 million people had been jobless for 27 weeks or more, 27.6% of the unemployed. The labor force participation rate was 61.9%, which BLS called little changed.

By group, the unemployment rate for Black workers was 6.6%, against 7.0% in September, and the teenage rate was 13.9%; BLS said rates for the major groups showed little or no change. For adults 25 and over without a high school diploma, the rate went from 4.3% to 5.8%.

The household figures cannot be compared with a year earlier: BLS notes that data for October 2025 were not collected because of the federal government shutdown. On the payroll side, BLS put the October 2025 change at a loss of 140,000 jobs.

What comes next

The September and October payroll figures are preliminary and can be revised, as August's and September's were in this report. The November report is scheduled for Friday, December 4, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. For the demand side of the job market, see our report on September job openings and quits.