- The government on Friday reveals how many jobs U.S. employers added in October.
- The jobs report for September showed that employers added a solid 263,000 positions.
- The unemployment rate that month fell to 3.5% from 3.7%..
Today the government will reveal how many jobs U.S. employers added in October. It’ll provide a fresh look into the health of the labor market and give hints at how close a potential recession is.
The jobs report for September showed that U.S. employers added a solid 263,000 positions. The unemployment rate fell from 3.7% to 3.5%. That gave the Federal Reserve the “all clear” to pass another 0.75 percentage point rate hike on Wednesday.
Raising interest rates is the ultimate balancing act for the central bank. It’s intentionally trying to dampen consumer and business demand to get inflation under control. But the ramifications of the rate increases can also force employers to lay off workers.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that unemployment will likely go up as the Fed continues its fight against inflation.
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What time is the jobs report today?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release the October jobs report at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday.
The VixÂ
The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, a market indicator of expected volatility over the next 30 days, is up slightly ahead of the jobs report. It recently hit a near 6-week low indicating that investors are less uncertain about the market outlook.
Dow futures
Ahead of the jobs report, futures traded for the Dow Jones Industrial Average are edging higher. This comes on the heels of Wednesday’s heightened volatility resulting from the Fed’s decision to hike interest rates by an additional 75 basis points.Â
Meanwhile, the Dow experienced its best October on record with its 14% gain. That was also its best month since 1976.
What is the current unemployment rate?
The current unemployment rate is 3.5%.
Jobs report predictions
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the jobs report to show the U.S. employers added 200,000 jobs last month. They’re also forecasting that the unemployment rate will rise from 3.5% to 3.6%.Â
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Elisabeth Buchwald is a personal finance and markets correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on Twitter @BuchElisabeth and sign up for our Daily Money newsletter here
Story Credit: usatoday.com