Employers Added 165,000 Jobs In October, More Than Three Times The Monthly Average Of The Past Year

U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Nov. 6, more than three times the average monthly gain of 48,000 over the previous 12 months. The two prior months were also stronger than first reported: August was revised up from 133,000 to 186,000 and September from 29,000 to 60,000, adding 84,000 jobs between them. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.1% from 4.2% in September.

A choppy year, and a stronger fall

The past 12 months swung between losses and gains. Payrolls fell in October 2025 (down 140,000), December (down 17,000), February (down 156,000) and July (down 10,000), and rose by more than 140,000 in January, March, April, August and now October. Over the 12 months before October, that averaged out to 48,000 jobs a month. August, September and October together averaged 137,000.

A hiring table at a U.S. post office. Photo: Chad Davis, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Find your industry

Four industries drove the gain, BLS said. Professional and business services added 70,000 jobs, health care 42,000, transportation and warehousing 25,000 (including 17,000 at couriers and messengers) and manufacturing 19,000. BLS described the rest, including construction, retail, leisure and hospitality and government, as little changed.

Pay rose too. Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers climbed 14 cents in October to $38.00, up 3.1% from a year earlier.

A UPS driver making a delivery. Couriers and messengers added 17,000 jobs in October. Photo: USDA, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The catch

Not every number moved the right way. The number of people working part time who want full-time work rose by 339,000 to 4.8 million. The share of adults in the labor force held at 61.9%. And September and October are still preliminary: BLS will revise both again in the next two reports.

How we counted: Monthly job changes are seasonally adjusted total nonfarm payroll employment (BLS series CES0000000001), computed from the levels BLS published Nov. 6, 2026. The prior 12-month average is the BLS figure for October 2025 to September 2026. Industry changes come from the CES supersector series; health care excludes social assistance. The unemployment rate is BLS series LNS14000000. BLS Employment Situation, October 2026. Download our data (CSV).