Unemployment is down to 4.9% the lowest it has ever been for 22 years

The report “was not a shocker, but it was definitely on the strong side, The unemployment rate, derived from a separate survey of American households, ticked down to 4.9% last month from 5% in September. A highlight from Friday’s report: Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose 2.8% in October compared with a year earlier, the strongest annual wage growth since June 2009. Revisions added a total of 44,000 jobs to earlier payroll estimates for August and September. Hiring over the past three months averaged 176,000 a month. The overall pace of job creation has slowed in 2016, averaging 181,000 a month through October versus 229,000 for all of 2015.

Wages continued to rise as the labor market tightened and employers competed to hire and retain workers. Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose 10 cents from September, or 0.4%, to $25.92 in October. Economists had expected a 0.3% increase on the month.