Shutdown, what shutdown? Employers added a much better than expected 204,000 jobs in October, the government said Friday in a much anticipated report on hiring that was expected to be a glum one because of the Oct.1-Oct.16 partial closing of the federal government.
October non-farm payrolls were strong across the board, with the detailed tables showing that leisure and hospitality, retail trade and manufacturing all posted big gains in a month that was expected to be a slow one because of uncertainty over Washington brinksmanship.
Private-sector payrolls were even stronger, with 212,000 new hires. But 8,000 lost government jobs dragged down the headline number slightly.
The unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a percentage point to 7.3 percent in October.
The jobs report was pushed back a week because of the government shutdown, giving some distance between the report on September jobs, which was delayed two weeks by the 16-day partial government shutdown.