The unemployment rate in the United States fell by one tenth and stood at 4.1% in October, the lowest in 17 years, thanks to the creation of 261,000 new jobs, the government reported today.
Last month the labor market recovered from the September slump, when hiring was hurt by the impact of hurricanes Harvey and Irma in the populous states of Texas and Florida.
In its report, the Department of Labor revised up the hiring data in September, when 18,000 jobs were created compared to the loss of 33,000 initially calculated.
Although the 261,000 new jobs in October represent a clear improvement over the previous month, the figure was below the expectations of the experts, who anticipated a figure above 300,000.
With the upward revisions of hiring in August and September included in today’s report, the US economy has generated an average of 162,000 jobs per month in the last three months.
As for the average salary per hour, it remained practically stable last month and stood at $ 26.53.
During the last twelve months, that average salary has increased by 63 cents, which is equivalent to 2.4%, according to the report.
