U.S. job growth picks up, wages flat
Article continues below
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 261,000 last month as 106,000 leisure and hospitality workers returned to work, the Labor Department said in its closely watched employment report on Friday.
That was the largest gain since July 2016 but below economists' expectations for a jump of 310,000 jobs.
Data for September was revised to show a gain of 18,000 jobs instead of a decline of 33,000 as previously reported.
Average hourly earnings slipped one cent in October, leaving them unchanged in percentage terms, in part due to the return of the lower-paid leisure and hospitality workers.
Wages shot up 0.5 percent in September. They were up 2.4 percent on a year-on-year basis last month, the smallest gain since February 2016, after a 2.8 percent advance in the prior month. ■