The monthly data does comes with a footnote: The headline job gains of 150,000 were depressed by a United Auto Workers strike.
But even accounting for that the number was close to the 183,000 monthly pace of job growth sustained for the 10 years before the pandemic, from 2010 to 2019, and to that extent looked "normal" after years of outsized job gains.
The pace of annual wage growth eased down to 4.1% in October in a continuing decline, while the month-to- month increase of 0.2% annualizes to around 2.4%, within the Fed's comfort zone.
If labor force growth is coupled with an easing of open jobs, it could show a job market moving closer to balance.
But if consumption remains strong and drives still-high numbers of openings, then a stall in labor force growth could reignite wage pressures.
Persons:
Jerome Powell, Howard Schneider, Andrea Ricci
Organizations:
Federal Reserve, United Auto Workers, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Reuters, Thomson
Locations:
U.S