Jobs Report Friday, November 6, 2015

Jobs report for October:

• 271,000 jobs added (remember the magic numbers)
• unemployment rate at 5.0% (down from 5.1%)
• forecast: 180,000 jobs with an unchanged unemployment rate
• NY Times calls this a "very strong showing"
• unemployment "rate close to full employment"
• after strong gains of well over 200,000 jobs each in May, June, and July, the pace of job creation slackened considerably in August and September, falling well below 150,000 and far short of Wall Street had expected

From CNS News:

• labor force participation remains at 38-year low
• a record 94.5 million Americans not in the "visible/observable/measurable" labor force
• unemployment ticks down to 5.0%

From US News two days ago:

A preliminary indicator for monthly jobs numbers dipped in October, potentially setting the stage for a third consecutive month of underwhelming employment data that could force the Fed to delay a long-deliberated interest rate increase into 2016.

The ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday showed the private sector of the labor market expanded by 182,000 jobs last month, down from September's revised 190,000 additions. Small businesses with less than 50 employees led job gains, adding 90,000 positions and accounting for nearly half of October's growth total. Such firms nearly doubled the 47,000 additions they posted in September.

Large companies with at least 500 employees, meanwhile, added only 29,000 jobs last month. In September, the small subset of firms with at least 1,000 employees added 100,000 jobs alone, and that huge jump in large-firm employment had alarmed analysts, as smaller companies have historically led monthly post-Great Recession gains.

Regardless of what the jobs report shows today, the fact is that the private sector of the labor market expanded by 182,000 jobs last month, down from September's revised 190,000 additions. Small businesses with less than 50 employees led job gains, adding 90,000 positions and accounting for nearly half of October's growth total. Such firms nearly doubled the 47,000 additions they posted in September.

Dots to connect:

• ObamaCare premiums are soaring.
• Firms with less than 50 employees are exempt from ObamaCare; the employees are not, but the firms are.