US Economy Adds More than Expected Jobs, Unemployment Rate Drops to 6.9%

The US economy added more than expected jobs to the US labor market over the past month,  so the unemployment rate falling to 6.9 percent.

On Friday, data issued by the US Labor Department announced that the US economy added 638,000 jobs last October, compared to 672,000 jobs added in the previous month.

Analysts had expected that the US economy would add about 595,000 jobs to the labor market during the same period.

The entertainment and health services sector added 271,000 jobs last month, and the retail sector added 104,000 jobs during the same period.

While the unemployment rate in the United States decreased to 6.9 percent last month, compared to 7.9 percent at the end of September.

The expectations were for a decline in the unemployment rate to 7.7 percent by the end of last month.

The labor force participation rate rose 0.3 percent to 61.7 percent last month.

On the other hand, the average hourly wage in the United States rose 4 cents to $ 29.50 in October.

The US  did well since last June when the unemployment rate fell to 6.9%  as the economy added a record 4.8 million jobs in that month, according to the CNN website.

The data was far better than economists predicted, and the unemployment rate also fell more than expected.

It was the second-consecutive month of growth after more than 20 million jobs were wiped out in April during the coronavirus lockdown.

The reopening of the economy is easing the burden on America's stressed labor market.

A full job market recovery is far from certain as long as the US economy remains in its current, deep recession, and "with the spread of the virus accelerating again, we expect the recovery from here will be a lot bumpier and job gains to be more muted," said Michael Pearce, senior US economist at Capital Economics, in a note.